


Unexpected Results to Simple Arithmetic

by ToriCeratops



Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Anal Fingering, Blow Jobs, Come Eating, Cunnilingus, Double Penetration, F/M, Het Sex, Het and Slash, Knotting, M/M, Mpreg, Polyamory, REGULAR PREG, Sloppy Seconds, Threesome - F/M/M, Unplanned Pregnancy, Vaginal Fingering
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:48:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 26,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25510840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToriCeratops/pseuds/ToriCeratops
Summary: The risk they took was calculated, but boy are they bad at math....One would expect, typically, that one (1)Couple (Alpha+Beta) adding one (1)beautiful man (Omega) would equal Three (3)Very happy people.  (A+B)+O=3, right?Wrong.When life is always throwing you curveballs like it does to one, Malcolm Bright, (A+B)+O=5.Who would have guessed?
Relationships: JT Tarmel/Tally Tarmel, Malcolm Bright/JT Tarmel/Tally Tarmel
Comments: 26
Kudos: 41
Collections: PSon Goblin Swap Summer 2020!





	1. Puzzle Pieces

**Author's Note:**

  * For [holyfudgemonkeys (erraticallyinspired)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/erraticallyinspired/gifts).



> This is _fairly_ in line with episodes and canon right up until episode 16. No Eve hate, but the getting back together doesn't exactly uh... _work_ with what we got goin on here. Plus I didn't want to deal with the story arc of the last three episodes.
> 
> Also, looking over it again, there is... a _lot_ of sex in this fic.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Malcolm Bright becomes a frequently discussed topic in their house the day her husband meets him.

‘The man is insane, hun.’

‘He’s got a few screws loose, I’m tellin’ ya.’

‘Chopped. It. Off. Just,  _ whack,  _ one big swing, and the look on his face. He’s crazy.’

‘The doc’s okay, but he threw him off a roof. Who the hell does shit like that? Strong tho.’

That’s the one that does it. That is the day Tally knows this obsession with Malcolm goes well beyond just pure bafflement and JT’s obsessive need to solve a puzzle when those puzzles are human-shaped. Her husband  _ admires  _ his new co-worker. He wraps up that admiration in stoic countenances and lingering questioning looks, she’s sure. She’s seen it before. 

“Do you think he could throw you off a roof? Is that what you’re worried about?” She teases with a kiss to his cheek.

A flash of something crosses JT’s gaze. There and gone again in the blink of an eye. But it makes him stop, makes him pause. She leans in and casually brushes her fingers down his neck and sure enough, that’s his pulse picking up.

Oh, this is going to be fun.

“I’m not worried about Bright. Well, not anything he might do to me. Suspects, maybe. Himself, definitely.”

It’s a brief interlude for dinner, and he’s gone again before she’s even finished her own meal. But that’s the life of the wife of a detective.

That night, when he crawls into bed at two am and she assures him she’s awake enough, that she wants to hear what happened, his words are laced with the admiration and respect only hinted at earlier. He’d not only talked someone down, he’d talked someone on a massive drug trip down while having a shotgun pointed at his face. 

Tally can’t  _ wait  _ to meet this guy.

There’s a progression in her husband. She could  _ map it. _

‘You should see him putting on a show for a suspect, but I think acting crazy just kind of comes naturally to him.’

‘He’s such a damn know it all. Always got all the answers. And fuck, if he isn’t usually right.’

‘It was fucking amazing how he talked that kid down, babe. I’m kinda scared that one day he’s gonna try that shit though and it’s not gonna work.’

‘That kid needs a damn hug.’

‘God, I can’t even fathom what he’s been though.’

‘He puts up with Edrisa better than everyone I’ve ever met. I don’t know how he just…  _ charms  _ everyone. With that damn smile…’

JT’s own smile seems a little… wistful and suddenly, she’s getting ideas.

_ Fuck,  _ she loves JT’s mouth. Loves the way he can make her feel with a kiss, with the easy, gentle slide of his tongue along her body. A decade together and it gets even better every time. When she gasps, he moves faster; a moan, he’ll push harder. He plays her body with such finesse and expertise he can bring her to orgasm over and over again all night long - or keep her on edge for hours. 

Like he’s doing now.

He’d started at dinner.

His hands wandering along what bare skin had been showing. Hovering, teasing, exploring.

It’s not even a special evening. No date, no planned time out or fancy dress up. Just a quiet meal at home that led to heated looks and quiet moans broken apart by giggles and teasing. 

She’s desperate to come, feels the tension deep in her bones as he slams into her over and over, at his own pace, not quite fast or hard enough to push over the edge. Tally’s had enough, she needs the release, to feel the snap and flood of pleasure before it all becomes too much. Her hands are already clinging to his shoulders and she curls them lightly, dragging her nails down his arms and back up again, scratching along the curve of his scalp while they pant desperately against each other's lips, barely able to focus on sharing a kiss.

“Fuck, baby you feel so good,” she moans and tilts her head back, letting JT begin to mouth at her neck, teeth scraping the sensitive flesh. But he’s still in control, driving her wild. “You know what I want to see? What would be really hot?”

“Tell me what you want.” His voice is coarse, words nearly stumbling over each other and she knows he’s close too, that he’s dragging it out as long as he can just  _ because  _ he can. 

“I wanna see you fuck someone again,” she moans in his ear, then nips at it and smirks at the way his rhythm falters. “Maybe a sweet, but feisty little Omega. Let you knot him and fill him so full….”

Even if she had anything else to say after that she wouldn’t have been able to. JT’s pace immediately becomes quick, sharp, hard enough the bed begins to properly slam against the wall and she’s wailing as she comes, dragging her sharp nails down the bare skin of her husband's back, barely hears the sharp noise JT makes as he begins to spill deep inside of her as well, arms trembling on either side of her head. 

Some time later, cleaned up and curled into his strong, thick arms, Tally nuzzles at his neck as JT asks, “You have anyone in  _ mind  _ for that filthy little thought of yours back there?”

She doesn’t say who she was thinking of, who she hopes JT was thinking of as he came so hard it left him speechless. 

But she smirks, and kisses him again until he forgets she hasn’t answered.

And she hopes.

The day their date night is interrupted, Tally realizes that she has hit the jackpot.

And that she doesn’t exactly have a lot of work to do.

Malcolm is  _ fine.  _ He’s incredibly sexy in his ridiculously out of place for a pool hall suit but she’s sure he’d look just as handsome in tight jeans and a fitted t. Or out of all of it. Either way. 

But she doesn’t make any moves on him. He’s on a date, after all. And the girl, Eve, she’s okay too. And it’s not like she and JT  _ need  _ to hit on someone to have fun. Hell, it’s been years since they really stepped out on the town like that. 

What she does do, however, is stand at one end of the pool table while Malcolm and Eve discuss who will break at the other. Tally leans against JT, sticks a hand in one of his back pockets, and gives his ass a little squeeze, stretching just enough her lips barely brush against his ear.

“I can see why you like him so much. Why you’re always talking about him. Can’t ever quit looking at him, can you?” 

He knows what she’s not saying, what she’s insinuating with the deep tone of her voice and the way she touches him when she says it. She’ll be punished for it later if the half-hearted glare is anything to go by, but she’s not put off, not in the slightest. In fact, she takes it as a challenge.

Especially since he doesn’t outright deny anything.

Or tell her to stop.

For the rest of the night, any time they’re just far enough away she can get away with it she makes small, little comments here and there. She wants to rile him up, get him flustered. If she plays her cards right he’ll fuck her so hard she’ll be sore for  _ days  _ just in retaliation for keeping him all hot and bothered over his co-worker all night. 

But then she has to go and royally fuck it all up.

They take him to dinner to apologize. 

This time, Malcolm is dressed appropriately for a casual meal of cheap food at a neighborhood bar.

Tally is pleased to note, however, that she was right about how the man would look in tight jeans and a fitted plain black t. As simple as they are, the outfit  _ still  _ probably cost more than her whole wardrobe. 

He’s fit, but not bulky, just defined enough she can make out muscles without them being the first thing she notices. 

And his  _ ass.  _

She wants to eat him up.

More than once, she catches JT’s glances lingering just a little too long, and she smiles.

It is surprisingly easy to slip into conversation, JT a little quieter than normal but that’s to be expected. He’s an excellent conversationalist, once he opens up a little more.

But it takes him a bit.

A few beers should help that.

And Malcolm… Malcolm is a delight. 

He’s at times shy and awkward and others the epitome of class and confidence, shifting between the two over and over so much that each instance blends into the next and by the time their plates are taken away and they’re still talking she just accepts this as who he is. Malcolm is shy, and confident. He’s awkward, and sure of himself. It all depends on the subject, and he’s not ashamed of any of it. 

At least not outwardly.

The three of them move from the dining room to a high top at the bar to let the waitress get another table and keep things going long into the evening. 

When she looks up from laughing so hard she goes breathless and realizes it’s late enough the dining room has closed, she gives JT a warm, lingering smile. 

But he’s barely paying her  _ any  _ attention, eyes glued to the brilliant smile across the table from them, a soft grin of his own on his lips. 

“She was lucky she only got a reprimand,” Malcolm shakes his head as he finishes his tale from his time at Quantico, bright blue eyes lit up with mischief. Tally knows exactly what JT’s lost in right now.

“Ordinance like that she’s lucky she didn’t lose a limb,” he points out without the smile slipping from his face. 

Tally reaches over as subtly as she can and runs a hand along JT’s thigh, squeezing lightly as she slips it high between his legs. Her own body heats at the way he bites his lip, but pointedly doesn’t look away from Malcolm. 

Oh yes, this is headed in exactly the direction she’s been hoping for. 

But not yet.

Not tonight.

They need more time.

And they need  _ to talk. _

It’s another hour before they finally ask for the check, an hour of more subtle glances, soft touches and quiet laughter. An hour of stories shared back and forth on safe subjects, never going too deep, too serious. But somehow, it still feels like they’re more than they were at the beginning, settled and comfortable together like she had only dared to hope to happen so quickly. 

When the waitress shows up with the billfold, however, she hands it directly to Malcolm with a sly wink.

“Hey! Bro. Come on.” JT’s protest is ignored, and probably pointless as instead of whipping out a card, Malcolm just signs whatever is in there, apparently having handed his card over ages ago. “This was supposed to be our treat.”

“As an apology,” Tally points out, daring to reach out and gently place her hand on his bare wrist. 

Malcolm’s hand jerks, but he doesn’t pull away. Instead, he stares at it for a moment as if in shock then looks up, gazing into her eyes with a deep sense of curiosity and surprise, then swallows. “And this is my way of saying thank you,” he does move then, but only to twist around and wrap his surprisingly smooth fingers around her hand. “but firmly stating it wasn’t necessary.”

“Okay, but next time when we say our treat,” JT says in a tone that brooks no argument - not quite a true alpha tone but dangerously close - “we mean  _ our treat  _ and you’re not allowed to pull this shit, got it?”

It’s almost sad the way Malcolm’s eyes widen at JT’s words. “Next time?”

“Yeah, hun.” Tally grips Malcolm’s hand where it’s still wrapped in hers. “Next time.”

Nothing fills Tally up like when she’s riding JT. His thick cock keeps her stretched wide and she can sink down over and over, all the way until their hips are grinding against each other at the pace that she sets. He hits all the perfect spots, every time.

JT had nearly thrown her on the bed the moment they were through the door after the bar, laughing and giggling together as he went down on her before she even got a stitch of clothing removed, her lace underwear still hanging off her ankle the first time she comes, squirting hard and making a mess of his face.

That feels like ages and a forgotten amount of orgasms ago.

They’re both naked now, sweaty and breathless as she curls her hips expertly to drag out every sensation from him. His hands roam everywhere, along the curve of her hips, to the swell of her breasts where he squeezes and teases at her rock hard and overly sensitive nipples. 

“I saw the way you looked at him all night,” she starts, looking down at JT and biting her lip while she pauses, while she waits for his reaction. He doesn’t disappoint, mouth falling open on a long groan and hand gripping her breasts even tighter. “Like you wanted to devour him.”

“Tally…” JT moans her name, a long, deep sound that goes straight through her spine. “baby…”

“I bet he smells amazing to you, all sweet and soft. But he isn’t sweet, or soft. He’d make you work for it, push back, make  _ you  _ beg. And you’d do it, too. Beg him to ride you like this, maybe let you take him hard and fast while he fucked my cunt.” 

She can feel his knot start to swell. 

They won’t tie. They can’t. Not with her being a beta. But the fact that just  _ thinking  _ about Malcolm has him swelling up like that sends waves of heat and electricity through her veins. Without another word she plants one hand on JT’s chest and snaps her hips up and down, fucking herself on his cock as hard as she can at this angle, meeting his thrusts until they’re slamming together and she’s coming, drenching them both, but not stopping, chasing the thrill of too much, too fast, knowing that if she can keep him going just a little longer she’ll topple over again in a heart beat. 

“You’re thinking about it, aren’t you?” Her words are breathless, chest heaving. “What his tight, slick little hole would feel like.” When JT nods, a quick, silent snap of his head, she laughs, quiet and panting. “Come on baby, knot your pretty little Omega. Imagine what he’d feel like, what he’d taste like with me all over his lips.”

A string of curses escape JT and Tally shouts as he grips her hips hard enough to bruise. He thrusts up into her cunt while pulling her body down against his a few more deliciously strong times before stilling with a long, drawn out groan and harsh angle to the arch of his back. Her own body sings at the sensations, at being filled so completely she can  _ feel  _ him coming and grinds her clit against the pressure of his half swollen knot until she’s coming again, lights sparking behind her closed tight eyelids. 

She feels more full and complete than she’s ever felt in her life, and bemoans not being able to feel him as big as he can truly get, that she’s never felt the true size of his knot, been tied and connected to his cock until she swelled up from him. 

But even this is more than she had hoped for, body tingling in the afterglow and already sore and achy from just how hard and how rough they’d been. She likes to think she can feel the pressure of his come, that his body had reacted as if he was actually attempting to breed an Omega. 

They are gross. Sweaty and sticky. The sheets are going to have to be changed because it’s more than just a simple wet spot tonight.

But neither of them seem in any rush to move.

She lays on his chest, fingers stroking through the fine hairs there while he hums and scratches lightly at her back, right against her shoulder blades where she always wants it most. They aren’t tied but they’re still together, JT’s thick cock not softening as quickly as it usually does. With a giggle she gives him a tight squeeze that earns her another groan and a breathy laugh. 

“I think you got all you’re getting out of that, babe.” 

“Aww,” she props her head up and smirks down at him, both of them with lazy, glassy gazes. “I wanted to get a few more drops out…” as she speaks, she clenches around him several more times in quick succession. She’s always loved toying with him this way, and the moans and jerks of his hips she gets in response this time tell her all she needs to know about how sensitive he still is. “Think you could go again like this, hm?” Her smirk is wicked, and as fucked out as she currently is, she would  _ kill  _ to be fucked by him while already so full to the brim with his come.

But JT shakes his head with a soft whimper. “No, fuck, as much as I want to, no.”

Tally shows mercy, and leaves him be, relaxing her pelvic muscles along with the rest of her body and sighing as she lays back down across his chest. 

“We could, you know,” she starts, lazily tracing a scar that crosses his pecs.

JT sighs and shakes his head. He doesn’t even have to ask what she’s talking about. The evidence of  _ who  _ they were talking about is still slowly going down. 

“It’s really not a good idea to mix work and pleasure like that. It will just end badly.”

He wants to. 

Fuck, she can still  _ feel  _ how much he wants to.

“We fucked Marian weekly for over a year before she started dating Joseph and promised him monogamy,” she reminds him. What a fucking year it had been, too. Young and genuinely care free, taking random trips and toting her along. Sometimes there were others, too. Sometimes with Marian, sometimes without. But she had been a constant there for a while. 

Secretly, Tally had hoped she’d  _ keep  _ being a constant. 

But she tends to always hope for too much. It doesn’t stop her, though.

“She and I still work together,” Tally points out. “And we’re god-parents to her kids. Sex doesn’t have to make work weird.”

Even though she can’t see her husband’s face where she’s still laying on his chest, head cradled against his shoulder, she can  _ hear  _ him over thinking. He’s really good at that. 

Spectacular over-thinker.

If he weren’t a detective…

Though it probably is what makes him good at his job.

“It’s different,” he tries to argue. “You know we still had an adjustment period when she put an end to things, where we were still both a little too invested. Too attached. And too attached in police work gets people hurt, or worse.”

Tally frowns. She can’t argue against the idea that they tend to get too attached to their play partners. Marian wasn’t the only one they were sad to see go over the years. However…

“Cops date each other all the time. He isn’t even a cop, he’s just there  _ some  _ of the time. Besides, it’s not like you’d be dating him. It’s just…  _ sex. _ ”

Which is a lie and she knows it.

He knows it too, judging by the way he tugs at her hair until she sits up enough he can glare at her like she knows what she did wrong. But she’s not backing down. It could absolutely be just sex. And even if it isn’t, it’s not like it’s the end of the world. 

“You want him. I can still feel how much you want him.” She clenches around his finally properly softening cock to emphasize her words. “Not doing anything about it isn’t going to make that want just go away, or change how much you might come to care for him. We find ourselves caring about people too much outside of the bedroom all the time, and you know it.” 

When he hesitates, but eventually sighs, she knows she’s getting through. Not like she expected him to be a terribly tough shell to crack over this in the first place, though.

Before he can say anything, she peppers his face in quick kisses and grins down at him. “Don’t make a decision right this second. Think about it. Flirt with him a little. Ask him to join us at the bar again.”

For a long time, JT just stares at her, like he’s searching for something in  _ her  _ face that might give him a response. But she’s nothing but open and honest, laid bare in every sense of the term. She wants this, wants to have Malcolm join them for some fun, for some really fucking  _ hot  _ fun. 

And preferably more than once.

Or twice.

“If we do this,” he eventually gets out with a frown, “you gotta let me set the pace for once.”

That takes her back for a moment. It’s true she’s usually the one doing all the flirting and the roping in, putting out hints and innuendos to their friends to test waters and decide when to strike. But, to be fair, she’s usually the one  _ finding  _ the people in the first place. Tally makes a show of thinking it over, tapping her lips with a single finger. 

“I think I can let you be the big strong Alpha you like to think you are for a little while.”

“You’re so generous,” he deadpans.

Tally laughs, loud and bright, and pats him gently on his hard, broad chest. 

“And don’t you forget it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spoiler alert: It is _never_ just sex.


	2. Pulling In

It’s been a long ass time since JT was the one having to chase someone down.

A _long fucking time._

Hell, the last person he went after entirely on his own was Tally. Admittedly that worked out fucking swimmingly and he’s never looked back, but since then all his flirting and teasing has been done at her side. Or even better, when he hasn’t had to do anything but watch his hot as sin wife seduce someone to bring to their bed. _Those_ are his favorite moments, if he’s being honest. Watching others fall to her whims. 

But as much as she’s encouraging this, pushing him forward, willing to sit at his side whenever they take Malcolm out or be his ear when he can’t fucking _stop talking about the man,_ he’d made her promise to let him take the lead.

What even _is_ flirting in 2019?

Has it really been a decade since he’s _had_ to do this?

It’s easiest when he joins them for a drink, or at the pool hall. 

Over the next few weeks after their failed attempt at an apology dinner he joins them maybe half a dozen more times, each evening easier than the last. And slowly, he starts to open up to Malcolm. Though Malcolm is pretty much an open book for everyone he meets - or at least, he has been to the team - JT’s got a tougher time of it. But he wants to get there, even if they never get to the point where they invite Malcolm _home_ with them, he’s grown fond of the guy. 

He likes him for way more than what he wants to _do_ to him. 

Which makes everything a little easier, if he’s being honest.

It’s two weeks before Christmas when JT makes his first conscious effort at being a little more forward.

Just like every Thursday morning, JT rolls into the office with three cups of coffee from the cafe they all actually like a few blocks away. It’s out of the way and there’s four more between there and the station but it’s worth it every time. 

Unlike every other Thursday morning, he finds Malcolm sitting at the table in the conference room poring over files, mouthing at the end of a pen.

After quietly dropping off Dani and Gil’s cups at their still empty desks, he steps into the room and puts his own down right in front of Bright, leaning against the table beside him.

Malcolm doesn’t even look up from the paper he is holding, soft, curved lips curled around the pen as he plays with it, then drags it slowly across the bottom one, JT tracing every movement very closely.

JT clears his throat and Malcolm jerks, but only at the sound, still not looking up.

“You uh,” with a deep breath and a _fuck it_ attitude, JT goes for broke, “got a little bit of an oral fixation going on there, bro?”

That _does_ make Malcolm pause and look up, hand dropping and pen going limp in his slightly parted lips. But then it falls and clatters to the table, startling him into speaking.

“What do you know about oral fixations?” His eyes are narrowed, peering up at JT, who can’t read anything in his features except curiosity. Malcolm isn’t put off by the comment, or intrigued, at least, not visibly. Just… curious.

“Only enough to make dirty jokes, swear.” JT puts one hand over his heart and the other in the air. “And you will eventually have to accept that I am very good at dirty jokes.”

“You were in the military,” Malcolm says, eyes brightening with a soft smile and cheeks tinged with pink. “It’s not surprising.”

JT makes a non-committal hum. He’d been good at dirty jokes _way before_ he was a marine. They’d just expanded his repertoire. 

“What’s this?” Malcolm asks, nudging at the coffee cup in front of him. 

In response to that abysmally stupid question, JT gives him a flat look. “How did you ever get hired by the NYPD to consult on detective work?” 

It earns him a quiet laugh and Malcolm shakes his head. “I can _smell_ that it’s coffee. Why is it sitting in front of me and not being gulped down at an alarming pace by _you?”_

There are bags under Malcolm’s eyes and a tiredness to his face that JT’s been noticing sinking deeper and deeper into every line every day he sees him. It’s highly likely that Malcolm has been here all night working on… whatever it is he’s working on. He knows the guy has problems sleeping, and it doesn’t look like it’s getting any better.

Instead of pointing that out, JT lies through his teeth.

“Chugged mine on the way over. This one is for you.”

The piercing, narrowed gaze is back and he knows Malcolm doesn’t believe him for a second. But before he can argue about it even in the slightest, JT nudges the cup a little forward.

“It’s black,” he says, his voice dropping and with a subtle wink. “Little sweet, and very strong.”

Malcolm gapes at him for a moment, the faint hint of a blush on his cheeks growing to a deeper, proper shade of red. But then he blinks and stares down at the cup with a soft smile. “I am pointedly _not_ responding to that.”

Which is fine.

JT is nothing if not patient. 

Little things build up here and there over the next few weeks. 

It’s subtle, they way their gazes linger a little longer, the way Malcolm speaks to him differently when no one else is really around.

Except Tally. 

He likes the way _their_ gazes linger a little too long as well. 

They only get a chance to grab a drink twice more in the days leading up to Christmas, and JT savors them both, knowing that he and Tally have so many family obligations between then and New Years he’s not sure when they’ll even have a chance to stop and breathe, let alone get time out with Malcolm. 

But they _want_ to make time for him.

It’s the day before Christmas Eve when JT catches him leaving the station, just a few dozen yards down the sidewalk. He reaches for Malcolm, grabbing him gently by the shoulders. 

Instantly, Malcolm’s upper body goes taught, spinning on his heels with a look in his face like he’s gone into fight or flight mode in the space of a heart beat. But as soon as his eyes lock onto JT’s it all drains from him and he deflates.

JT leaves his hand where it is, and Malcolm leans into it.

Neither says anything about it. 

“Hey, bro. Glad I caught you.”

“You know, I do have a phone. I know you have my number.”

JT nods with a smile, “Yeah, but there’s this thing people insist on about, you know, interacting with other humans outside of a screen. It’s a weird concept but I promised my momma years ago I’d keep up the practice. And no one breaks promises to Janeece Tarmel.” 

Malcolm’s laughter is fucking amazing and he shifts, JT’s hand going from his shoulder to his arm, still touching.

Still holding.

“What’s up?” Malcolm asks.

“Tally and I are gonna be crazy with family over the next week,” he starts, “with more cousins, aunts and uncles, and extended family than we can count.”

Malcolm nods with a grin, listening, brows raised waiting for the point. 

“So, we’re hoping to find a day to have an excuse to well, escape.”

“Escape the family?”

“Not that we don’t want to see them all, of course. Just… it gets a little much, you know. And if we have other arrangements one afternoon, we can get away for a little bit.” 

“And you need me for....” he leans in, smile growing just a touch, waiting, a glint of hope in his eyes.

“Our excuse.” JT lets his thumb graze over Malcolm’s arm, slightly bitter that he can’t actually feel his skin. “But not just our excuse. We do want to see you for the holidays, even if just for a few hours,” he assures him.

For a moment, Malcolm seems unable to find a response and he gapes, but quickly recovers, nodding and clearing his throat. “Um, yeah, of course. On, um, one condition.”

He looks up from beneath his lashes and JT’s breath catches in his chest, lost for a moment in the depth of those crystal blue eyes. But he quickly catches himself and swallows heavily before letting out a long, slow sigh. “Name it.”

“This time, it’s _my treat._ ”

They swap texts that night, figuring out details, days that would work better for JT and Tally. 

There are a few options, and since for the most part Malcolm’s schedule stays wide open unless he’s working - in which case JT’s schedule would be eaten up as well - they’re going off when JT and Tally might have free time.

It’s a toss up, but there are a couple afternoons and evenings in the longest week of the year that will work, so they leave it open, promising to play it by ear.

Malcolm tells JT to make sure Tally wears her nicest dress. JT knows exactly which one that would be and can picture her in it, how she’d act around Malcolm, showing off her curves in the slinky red piece.

And then the asshole has to go and get himself kidnapped. 

“You don’t do anything by halves, do you?”

Tally sits on the edge of Malcolm’s bed and has her hand placed gently over Malcolm’s while JT stands at her side with his hand on her back. She smirks down at Malcolm but there’s a sadness in her eyes, a melancholy in her smile that she doesn’t bother attempting to hide.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, this is just… a minor inconvenience.” Despite Malcolm’s claims that he feels absolutely fine and the drugs are keeping the pain away, JT can see the droop in his gaze and hears the slowness in his words. It’s all subtle, but it is absolutely there. He wonders how this kid ever thinks he actually gets away with it. 

Who believes his lies? 

Does he actually think anyone ever does?

There’s a cast on his hand that is thick and heavy looking and he knows there are bandages all around his middle beneath the hospital gown from where he was _stabbed._

JT lets out a long, slow breath. “Bro, I’d hate to see what you consider a serious inconvenience. You were literally bleeding to death by the time we got there.” He feels Tally flinch, but rubs her back to soothe her nerves. She’s tough, but she still takes seeing her friends hurt really hard even when she doesn’t let it show. 

“Well,” she says, tone making light of the situation already, “this little inconvenience of yours needs to hurry up and get better. Someone still owes me an excuse to wear that Armani dress that’s been sitting in my closet since I snatched it out of that consignment shop a couple years ago.”

Malcolm’s laugh is quiet, and there’s a subtle twinge in his features that says it’s also a little painful. But his smile is real and warm as he looks back at Tally. “Surely all of this at least got you away from the family for a little while? Wasn’t that the whole point?”

“The point,” JT says before Tally can respond, “was to see our friend to celebrate the holiday for a little while together. And even if it was to just get out of family obligations, bro, that was the wrong way to do it.” He can’t keep the tightness out of his voice as he speaks, and winds up giving Malcolm a disapproving, but half hearted glare. 

“I didn’t do it on purpose?” Malcolm says like he’s not actually sure that’s the right answer and gives them a self deprecating smile. But then he closes his eyes and holds up his good hand, wrapped and lined with IV’s and monitors. “Wait, go back a second. Did you say friend?”

“Malcolm,” Tally starts, giving him a flat, unimpressed look. “Look at us and tell me you honestly think we’re the kind of people that would bother hanging out with folks who we don’t consider friends… _three times a week._ ”

He flounders in response for a moment before shrugging like he’s just kind of giving up. “I guess I’m just... not used to people calling me that.”

She leans in and kisses his forehead and JT watches, fascinated, as Malcolm closes his eyes and breathes deep, seeming to savor every last second of the connection.

“Well, get used to it.”

That night, while they’re getting ready for bed, out of nowhere Tally stops and looks up at JT with a sad look on her face, then says out loud what JT has been thinking privately for months.

“That boy is touch starved.”

All he can do is nod, because she’s never been more right.

Maybe, if they play their cards right, they can offer him some sustenance.

> **T-Baby:** JT says you need a drink, been a long couple days?
> 
> **Bright** : While I hesitate to admit this, he may be right this time.
> 
> Hey
> 
> I’m right most of the time
> 
> **T-Baby** : Are you licensed to diagnose people who are delusional? 
> 
> **Bright** : It’s a symptom of a larger problem, I’m sure. And it wouldn’t be an official diagnosis, and only applicable if he winds up murdering someone.
> 
> I’m thinking about murdering a couple someones
> 
> **T-Baby** : So, drinks with me and my delusional spouse, yes/yes?
> 
> **T-Baby** : Tonight?
> 
> **Bright** : I’d love to

The bar is crowded and it’s easy to find a dark corner that’s not so much _quiet_ as it is _private._

Ten minutes after they get there, JT puts down the rule that they’re not allowed to talk about work or families, of any kind. When Malcolm argues that he’s not entirely sure he’d have much else _to_ talk about in that case JT, just laughs loudly.

“You need to have more faith in my wife’s ability to fill up a silence. She will keep you going, I promise.”

And she does.

Unsurprisingly, Malcolm keeps up. He’s fascinated by her detailed explanations of pop-culture trends and social media fads and they actually get into a pretty deep conversation on the psychology of influencers and their followers. She’s a marketing manager with a pretty well defined goal of being an executive before she’s forty - Tally knows how people think when it comes to media. 

For the most part, JT does what JT loves most. He sits back, nurses his beer, and watches. He laughs with them, catches the way Malcolm stares in open awe at Tally from time to time, feels his body start to heat up the first time she reaches out to touch Malcolm and he doesn’t pull away.

After several rounds and a few hours, all three are huddled a little closer into the corner, JT close enough to Malcolm he can feel his body heat, can smell the expensive cologne he wears undercut with a sharp, spicy hint of something else, something JT can only call arousal. Which is likely due to the way Tally is leaned right into his space, one hand on Malcolm’s thigh while she occasionally hand feeds him bites of various types of chocolate the bar normally reserves for their whiskey tasting nights. 

Malcolm hums as she lets her fingers linger on his lips, drawing it out slowly with her gaze locked on his features while JT watches silently, aching to either take her fingers in his own mouth or just kiss him right then and there.

“It’s… lemon?” Malcolm opens his eyes and gasps quietly at how close Tally is, eyes glancing down to where she still has her fingers curled lightly around his chin and is close enough that with barely any movement at all, they would be kissing. 

JT shifts in his chair, pants growing tight.

“Yeah,” she smiles and her lips are close enough there’s no way she can’t taste Malcom’s chocolate sweetened breath on her tongue. “That one’s JT’s favorite. Looks like it was the only one in there tonight, though.”

Malcolm hasn’t had that much to drink, but his gaze is suddenly glazed and more than just a little heated. “I ate it kind of slowly, flavor’s still lingering.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Which, really, is all the invitation JT fucking needs to replace Tally’s hand with his own, tilt Malcolm’s head up and over just a touch and claim his lips in a quick, but deep kiss. 

His other hand moves so that it’s rested right next to Tally’s on Malcolm’s thigh, higher than hers, broader than hers. The way he can wrap his fingers around the smaller man, JT can run his thumb up the line of his inseam, close enough to the v of his hips Malcolm squirms but not to get away, to get closer.

He tastes of the lemony chocolate and the honey wheat of the IPA he’s been drinking all night, his lips are soft and the stubble rough against JT’s clean shaven skin. When he parts his lips to invite JT in it’s perfect, just the small, tiny movement of acceptance, of silently begging for more. 

When they break apart Malcolm almost falls out of his chair trying to follow JT, a quiet whine choked off in the back of his throat. 

“I need you to hold on just… two seconds.” JT freezes and watches Tally do the same, but they don’t pull away. They wait, patiently, for Malcolm to say what he needs to.

It takes a minute, as he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. A thrill runs down JT’s spine when he sees Malcolm relax just a touch at the inhale, wondering if it’s his scent that’s helping him center. But he’s trying not to get too ahead of himself here…

“Is this going where I think it’s going?”

There’s a million and one answers to that question and they all depend on just _what_ Malcolm thinks their intentions are. But when Tally looks to JT for a response, silently deferring to his request to let him set the pace, he gives her a wide, knowing smile and slow nod. It’s been months since they first talked about it, they’ve spent a lot of time together and Malcolm has never seemed outwardly averse to any of JT’s - admittedly subtle - flirting. 

His body starts to heat as he watches Tally move again, leaning in even closer to Malcolm, hand sliding up his chest to rest gently at the side of his neck. “If you’re thinking that this is going back to our place to get a little more heated,” she runs her nose up the side of Malcolm’s neck, whispering against his ear, “and a little less… clothed…” JT is transfixed on the way she nips at his ear lobe, dragging this soft skin between her teeth while Malcolm lets out a long, quiet moan and his eyes flutter closed. “You would be correct.”

The spicy sweet scent of Malcolm’s arousal spikes ten fold in the span of one breath to the next and JT has to work hard to keep from grabbing the omega right then and there and pulling Malcolm against his body. 

“Great, good, that’s, uh…” Malcolm’s eyes are still closed, but his lips are wide in a dazed kind of smile. “That’s good.” 

It takes some effort to pay their tab and get out of the bar without having their hands all over each other now that there is a clearly defined expectation of where the evening is going to wind up. There’s a heat that flows through all three of them, picking up on each of their desires and multiplying as it keeps going around. It builds from the looks passed between Tally and Malcolm, and the glances Malcolm gives JT while Tally is snuggled up _intimately_ close. 

The moment they make it through their front door, the low burning embers they’ve been fanning all night burst into a roaring fire, JT tangling his fingers into Malcolm’s hair and pulling him in for a deep, searing kiss. 

It’s long and lingering, nothing like the quick connection at the bar. This, JT feels deep in his bones. He feels the want radiating off of Malcolm reflecting his own in the way they move together. The way their tongues slip and glide against each other, how Malcolm grips his shirt so tightly in his fist and moans at the way JT takes him apart with just his mouth makes his entire body ache with desire.

“Mmm,” Tally hums and runs her hands up JT’s arm, curling it around his bicep. “Let me taste him, baby.”

Malcolm looks dazed as he pulls back from JT just to get immediately pulled in by Tally. And JT, well, JT’s suddenly growing _very_ hard watching the two of them melt together. Unlike with JT, Malcolm takes control of the kiss with Tally, cradling the back of her head and guiding their angles. It’s obvious he wants to touch more, that he’s desperate to feel her beneath his other hand. But every time he goes to raise that arm it’s an aborted movement, dropping back down the moment the plaster comes in contact with her body. 

As much as JT _fucking loves_ to watch, and tends to stay back until it’s time to really get going, he doesn’t want Malcolm to feel like he’s missing out on anything. So he crowds up behind him and gets a hand on Malcolm’s hip before kissing the side of his neck, light, ghosting touches of his lips along his overheated skin, and then speaks quietly into his ear. “Let’s get to the bedroom so you can get comfortable and not have to worry too much about things being in your way, hm?”

The apartment is pretty compact, so it doesn’t take them long to get to the bedroom, and once they’re there Malcolm seems to come to his senses enough to speak again.

Maybe it’s just because JT and Tally finally actually let him come up for air.

“I need to uh,” he keens when JT nips at his pulse point and starts working his hands under the hem of Malcolm’s sweater, finally touching bare skin with his fingers. “I need to know what the expectations are. What do you guys want me to ah… _fuck…”_ Tally’s hands are working in the opposite direction of JT’s, stroking down his thighs and cupping his cock with her long, slender fingers. 

“We want you to enjoy yourself,” she purrs while working the button of his pants.

“And tell us what you like, what you want,” JT adds. “I’m probably going to sit back and watch you and Tally for a bit though,” he hums and rocks his hips just a little, just enough to let Malcolm know how he’s affecting him. “I like to watch first, see all the little details if that’s okay with…”

Malcolm cuts him off with a kiss, and Tally squeaks with a giggle when he turns away from her to throw himself around JT but she doesn’t complain. And _fuck_ neither is JT. Malcolm has to reach up to kiss him properly without JT leaning in, on his toes with his arms wrapped around JT’s neck. With one hand still under Malcolm’s sweater, he grips the omega’s ass hard and grinds their hips together, still infuriatingly clothed cocks rubbing together between them so that both men groan into the kiss, though it doesn’t break. 

It’s heady and makes JT’s thoughts swim and body heat, lips and teeth and tongue gliding together and Malcolm letting JT just take and take and take until he finally pulls back just enough to finally catch his breath, a heartbeat away from throwing the smaller man on the bed and just taking him apart so he can fuck him deeply, foreplay be damned. 

Panting heavily, chest heaving, JT stares at Malcolm through his haze and rolls his hips again, delighting in the way his blue eyes flutter closed. “Take him, baby,” he says to his wife without ever looking away from Malcolm, “before I make this over with way too fucking soon.” 

When he does look away, it’s like a punch to his gut. 

While they were... well... distracted, Tally had tossed her shirt and opened up her jeans, matching yellow lace a stark and beautiful contrast to her dark skin. But more than that, she’s already got her fingers down the front of her panties and he can smell how wet she is. 

“I think I’m finally seeing why you like to watch so much.” her voice is hoarse, and for a moment she doesn’t move towards them, though her fingers keep shifting beneath the bright yellow fabric. 

“You’ll join us eventually, though, right?” Malcolm looks up at JT from beneath his lashes, head slightly tilted to the side just barely exposing his neck and JT has to make a fist at his side to keep from reaching out and pulling him back in to bite and mark up that beautiful pale skin of his. 

“You can’t keep me away,” JT assures him before stepping back and letting Tally take over.

Finally, JT can take a deep breath and lean back, finding the armchair in the corner of the room without looking and sitting down heavily in it.

The sight in front of him is breathtaking as Tally helps Malcolm remove his shirts and pants before gently guiding him back onto the bed, at just the right angle he can see the length of their bodies, see the way they kiss and lick and touch one another. Tally keeps her head angled toward JT so her hair falls on the opposite side of her face and doesn’t block his view.

She is _very_ experienced at this. 

Before crawling over Malcolm, she makes sure to shed her jeans so that she’s in just her underwear, rolling her hips down against the bulge in Malcolm’s boxer briefs, kissing all along the long lines of his neck before capturing his lips in hers. 

JT rests his hand over his own bulge, gently rubs his thumb over the outline of his cock through his pants but doesn’t otherwise work to give himself any pleasure. The scene before him is hot enough he doesn’t really need any help. 

Tally and Malcolm can’t seem to get enough of each other's lips. Though their hands wander, and Malcolm is finally able to get a hold of her breast and begin squeezing and kneading, they kiss like two teenagers who won’t be doing anything below the belt, like that’s _all_ they’re there to do and it’s the most important part of their evening. He’s long memorized what that feels like from Tally, and remembers the taste of Malcolm, knows they both taste so sweet and their lips are so soft, he groans at what they must be feeling from each other. 

A huff of laughter breaks through the noise of their kisses and he watches Tally drop her head against Malcolm’s shoulder while her whole body shakes.

“I swear, I’m normally way better at this.” JT notes that Malcolm has moved his hand to Tally’s back and is fumbling with her bra, and bites his lip to keep his own amusement quiet. Thankfully, there’s a bit of laughter in Malcolm’s voice as well, as he continues. “And as lovely as this is, I would be incredibly appreciative if you got it out of my way.”

Tally’s laughter picks up, bright and full in the small space of the bedroom. She doesn’t even have to pick herself up, strong enough to remain at the deep angle she’s currently in without propping herself up on her hands, and reaches back to unclasp the bra. While she’s shrugging it off her shoulders, Malcolm mumbles something that JT can’t make out and suddenly they’re both moving, sitting up so that Tally is in Malcolm’s lap while he starts to kiss down her chest as she arches back. Her underwear is soaked, the outline of her soaking wet folds clearly visible while she slides against the thick swell of his cock through his boxer-briefs. Malcolm latches onto her nipple and begins to toy with her, popping up only briefly to ask, “I can’t hold you up and do everything I want, so hold on to my shoulders?”

Malcolm is surprisingly - or maybe not so surprisingly - flexible and strong enough that despite having no leverage with his arms, he still manages to flex and lift his hips to rock with Tally’s movements while pulling deep moans of pleasure from her as he bites and sucks at her breasts, moving from one to the other and back again until she’s gasping, begging for something but even JT doesn’t know what. 

When Malcolm slips his good hand between their bodies, JT can see the moment he buries his fingers into his wife’s cunt by the way she freezes, hears the way her breath is caught in her throat in a sharp gasp. He has to pull his cock free then, pants now fit to burst from how hard he is. It takes a moment, and he fumbles more than he’ll admit, but eventually he’s able to pull himself free. The base of his cock is slightly swollen and he wraps his fingers around it as much as he can, squeezing painfully tight to try and hold back. He pulses and twitches in his hand when Tally comes, the scent of her release and sounds of her ecstasy sending waves of untouched pleasure through his senses until precome drips copiously from the head of his dick. 

But before Tally’s even finished, body still trembling from her orgasm, she’s eying JT, biting her lip with a devious glint in her eye before speaking low and quiet, right against Malcolm’s ear. 

“JT wants to fuck you,” she nips at his ear, then his jaw, kisses all around his parted and panting lips and pulls away any time he tries to capture hers. “Wants it so bad. But I’m gonna open you up for him, first. How’s that sound, baby?”

“Fuck,” there’s a spike of something charged in the air, an intoxicating scent that’s been building since that kiss in the bar. “That sounds amazing.”

Malcolm lays back again while Tally kisses and bites down his chest, marking him up, pauses to flick her tongue against one nipple, and then the other when it earns her a gasp. 

But she’s on a mission, and doesn’t linger.

“Are you wet for us already?”

Her hands slip beneath his underwear and pull it down, and JT groans when he finally gets a good look at Malcolm’s cock. A good thickness and considerably long for an omega, hard and red, curved up towards his body once it settles and dripping copiously already. He lifts his hips without needing to be asked, Tally guiding him just where she wants him until she slips one hand beneath him and he gasps, a hard, sharp noise. 

“I get wet just thinking about you two.” Malcolm’s words are high pitched, desperate and breathless.

But it’s Tally’s reaction that snaps his attention. She licks up the underside of Malcolm’s cock but stops just before she’s going to take the head between her lips and snaps her gaze up to JT.

“Oh, _baby.”_ She moans and moves the hand she has beneath Malcolm faster, Malcolm working his hips to meet her and arching his back high off the mattress. _“_ JT, he’s soaking for us.” 

She doesn’t wait for a response, just takes him into her mouth while her fingers fuck into him, making Malcolm arch off the bed with a string of filthy curses spilling from his mouth. 

Tally takes her time and he can see the changes she makes in speed and depth as she learns Malcolm’s body, as she gets responses she wants and makes him give her more. It doesn’t take long before Malcolm seems to be unable to speak clearly, before his curses turn to cut-off syllables and desperate moans, the hand in Tally’s hair gripping ever tighter.

Until he looks back at JT, watches as JT slowly strokes himself, squeezes lightly at the knot forming at the base of his dick, and begins begging Tally to stop.

“T.. Tall. I’m gonna come, don’t want… not yet… _fuuuck.”_

She pulls off with a filthy pop, a string of saliva glistening between her lips and Malcolm’s cock, the sight making JT groan and have to take a deep breath to calm the storm raging in his core.

“You think you’re ready for JT, huh?”

Malcolm shakes his head, “Doesn’t matter, need him…”

For a second, by the way she keeps moving her hand and Malcolm keeps gasping desperately, hips high off the bed, it looks like she’s not going to listen, like she’s going to push him right over the edge and then let JT take him anyway. 

But she shows mercy, pulls her hand free, and moves out of the way.

For now.

JT moves quickly, yanking his shirt over his head and kicking out of the rest of his clothes before he kneels at the edge of the bed, staring down at where Malcolm lays with his legs spread wide, hole loose and dripping on display, ready and waiting. His cock is flushed red and angry from how hard he is and JT can’t stop himself from reaching out, from giving him a light squeeze and gentle stroke which makes Malcolm keen and let out a choked off noise of protest. “Please, please, JT.”

When Tally comes back with the knotting condom he tears into it with trembling fingers, rolls it on then finally leans in, letting his cock drag along the cleft of Malcolm’s ass, teasing him, catching his rim a few times while he buries his face in the crook of the omega’s neck and inhales deeply. His scent sends shocks of pleasure down through JT’s spine. Tremors through his muscles make him _weak_ for this man. 

“Tell me what you want, Malcolm. You want me to pull out and come all over you, or you want my knot, want to be stretched out and full of it?”

He nudges at JT with his cheek then captures his lips in a desperate and sloppy kiss, hips still rocking up higher each time JT teases at his entrance. “Knot me, please… please, I want to feel all of it.”

JT doesn’t need to be told twice, doesn’t want to make Malcolm beg… this time.

When he rocks forward, finally popping inside where he so desperately wants to be, he moves slowly, catching Tally’s heated gaze while she watches, peering down at where his cock is spearing Malcolm wide open, hole stretched wide while Malcolm’s legs are wrapped around JT’s hips.

There’s no moving quickly in this, not now, not with as built up as he’s been all evening, not with how much he’s wanted Malcolm since he met the man. 

No, if he goes too fast right now, it’ll be over far too soon. 

So he takes his time, works Malcolm onto his cock slowly while both he and Tally kiss and touch him everywhere, teasing out soft moans of pleasure and distracting him from the stretch that has to be more than Tally had properly prepared him for.

But eventually he bottoms out with a low groan of his own, pausing only long enough to catch his breath and get a silent nod from Malcolm that he’s okay, that he’s ready, that he can take more.

JT still goes slow, finding that perfect angle to make Malcolm’s body arch and sing just for him, tilting them both so that with every thrust forward, he makes Malcolm cry out.

“Wait, wait!” 

In an instant, JT pulls out and Malcolm whines, but takes a second to catch his breath before waving his hand vaguely in Tally’s direction. 

“Come here.”

It takes a moment for both of them to figure out what he wants, but once he’s maneuvered Tally into straddling his head she’s giggling, and JT slaps his own face. He drags his hand down while he tries to maintain some semblance of physical control.

“Jesus _fucking_ Christ.”

“No, JT fucking Malcolm. Now, please.”

For his cheek, JT smacks the side of Malcolm’s ass which makes Malcolm gasp and his cock jerk and spill more precome, a fact that JT files away for later.

For next time.

Right now, he needs to get back inside, needs to feel that hot, impossible tightness that only an omega can provide. 

He doesn’t take his time, lining up and sliding home the second he sees Malcolm’s tongue dart out of his mouth and swirl around Tally’s swollen clit. 

From there it’s hot, heavy, quick snaps of his hips, mindless fucking, filthy sounds of flesh on flesh and wet slurps of Malcolm’s tongue in Tally’s cunt. JT is quiet as he always is as he pounds into the body beneath him, as he watches, transfixed on the sight before him. But Malcolm and Tally? They are loud, expressive, exuberant in their pleasure. Her cries are music to his ears and the chest deep groans Malcolm lets loose make his entire body vibrate around JT’s cock. 

Tally comes first, her wails of pleasure snatched up by JT’s lips when he yanks her in for a deep, messy kiss. Her entire body trembles through her release and Malcolm doesn’t stop, doesn’t let up the movements of his tongue until she physically pulls away from him, gasping for air as she flops boneless onto the bed beside them. 

When she’s gone JT’s movement stutters at the glistening wetness that _covers_ Malcolm’s lips and face. Malcolm gives him a molten look of desire and JT starts pounding harder than ever to wipe it off his face, nearly pulling all the way out before slamming back in over and over, knot beginning to swell and catch on Malcolm’s rim, dragging it out as long as he can before he can’t pull back any longer. When he leans forward to claim Malcolm’s lips and tastes the slick salty release of Tally on every inch of Malcolm, JT starts to come, locked in place, but grinding deep with every pulse of his release that racks through his body.

A moment later he feels the explosion of wet heat between them, feels Malcolm clench and curse and whine into their kiss, entire body going taut beneath JT. 

Their kiss goes soft, sweet, and JT drowns in it.

They stay tied for far longer than JT expects, but the time passes easily once they shift onto their sides and Tally snuggles up behind Malcolm, her hands joining the exploration of Malcolm’s body. 

He’s beautiful, soft skin glowing in the dim light of the room and long, lean lines with a few scars scattered throughout. JT lingers on the newest, on the red and angry line on Malcolms left side, healing, but with a long way to go.

There’s a twist in his chest at the memory, at the thought that there’s only so much a man can go through before it’s too much, surely. 

JT is in awe again of Malcolm’s resilience, of how strong he seems to not know he is.

Malcolm hums as Tally softly kisses his shoulder then lets out a long, slow sigh.

“I can’t stay,” he says quietly, full of regret.

Tally props her chin on Malcolm’s shoulder and squeezes his arm. “You are welcome to, if you want.”

“I…” he closes his eyes and sighs once more. “I want to. I do, but the last time I actually slept next to someone, it… it really didn’t end well.”

A spike of possessive and protective anger surges through JT’s chest, wondering just how many fucking people take advantage of Malcolm on the regular. “Did they…”

“Oh, no,” Malcolm quickly cuts him off. “Fuck, no it wasn’t anything they did. I had a nightmare and may have uh,” he tries to look away, which is difficult while he’s stuck between two people staring directly at him and him alone. Malcolm clears his throat and whispers, “tried to stab them.”

Oh. That’s all. JT lets out a breath of relief and shakes his head, stroking the side of Malcolm’s hip gently with his thumb and giving him his best reassuring smile. “It’s okay, man.”

For a second, Malcolm is taken aback. He does a double take that shakes Tally off of him momentarily though she goes right back where she was almost instantly, just as intent on making Malcolm feel as welcome and connected as JT is. 

“It really isn’t,” he insists.

“It really is,” though he supposes it probably was anything but okay at the time, and he can only guess how whoever it was responded. Not well, most likely, given the way Malcolm is acting right now. “and we understand.”

“No, I don’t think you do.” He’s nearing despondent at this point, and they both only hold him tighter, which seems to help, even if only a miniscule amount.

This time, it’s Tally that speaks up, her words soft and touch softer. “Malcolm. JT and I slept in separate rooms for almost a year after his last tour.”

“What?”

It had been the second worst year of his life, the first being that final tour. They were engaged, having only lived together for a few months before he got his orders and got shipped out. And when he came back, well, everything had been different. JT had been different. On the outside, anyway. That’s what Tally insisted. And she had been steady as a rock, supporting him, helping him, _pushing_ him when he’d needed it. “PTSD is a bitch,” he admits quietly. “But we got through it, and if anything ever happens while you’re here, we’ll understand.”

Malcolm seems dumbfounded, his bright blue eyes glistening while he blinks and balks at JT, occasionally glancing over at Tally as he gathers his thoughts. “I… right. That’s… different.” JT doubts it’s truly sunk in, especially when he gets a glimpse of the ‘everything is fine, this is all fine’ mask Malcolm wears so easily in his day to day life. “I still need to go,” he admits in a whisper. “When,” he gives a light squeeze of his body around JT’s knot and a weak but honest smirk. “When I can.”

While JT groans, Tally kisses Malcolm’s neck. “Will you come back? Soon?”

“You won’t be able to keep me away.” 

  
  



	3. Broken Things

Malcolm Bright’s life is suddenly vastly different than anything he’d ever expected it to be.

When he hit thirty and had never had anything resembling a long term, stable relationship he figured he’d just… live that way for the rest of his life. No one he’d ever really been into was willing to put up with the insanity of his life, his past, his… issues.

Suddenly, he’s got two people who knew him well enough to know what his baggage looks like  _ before  _ they slept with him, wanting to do it again. 

And more than just sleep with him, too.

It’s…  _ alarming. _

He honestly doesn’t know  _ what  _ to think about it.

The sex was…

Fuck, the sex was mind-blowingly good. Probably, no, undoubtedly the best he’s ever had in his life. They were kind and attentive, less worried about their own pleasure than his, though they absolutely found theirs. And work is surprisingly not awkward. There are moments, here and there, where he and JT will share a look, a brief, but lingering touch that could be passed off as not paying attention, or a smile that seems like it’s just between them. 

Malcolm, honestly, lives for those moments. For something  _ good  _ that doesn’t seem to have something dark and insidious waiting in the corners. For JT’s touch. For Tally’s touch when the three of them are out together. Someone - TWO someones! - to touch him because they want to, because they like it, because  _ he likes it _ and not for any other reason than it makes them all feel good.

He eats it up, soaks it in.

And hopes, like he’s never hoped before, that he can actually hold on to something good in his life. 

Probably the most surprising thing of all, however, is that they don’t sleep together again right away. 

Not for a long time.

He and JT grab lunch when they’re working.

Malcolm takes Tally to lunch when he’s not working.

They grab drinks in the evenings.

They have a group chat that Malcolm is surprised stays as active as it does. Though after a while he finds the ways JT likes to communicate, only speaking up when something is important to say. 

And funny as hell.

Eventually, he makes good on his promise to take them somewhere Tally can wear her favorite red dress and Malcolm and JT are both  _ devastated  _ that they get called in as dinner is winding down and promising to end with that sultry red dress tossed to the floor of the apartment in short order.

But no.

Murders to solve. Crime to stop. 

Sex can wait.

If anyone notes that he and JT  _ both  _ are in rather short moods the whole night they’re at the scene, no one says anything out loud to them about it. 

“Malcolm, I can’t accept this.” Tally stares in awe at the storefront, eyes bright and wide with a hand clutched to her chest. But Malcolm shakes his head and snakes an arm around her waist, kissing her temple before guiding her forward towards the entrance of the small Madison Avenue boutique.

“I’m taking you and JT to the New York City Ballet’s spring gala premier. I already informed him I’d be getting him a proper tux for the occasion, or at least something near enough to pass for acceptable in that crowd, you need to be dressed up too. And I  _ want  _ to.” He drops his voice just before they enter, words dark against her ear. “And there’s a specific dress I’m hoping you’ll love because I want to imagine how we’ll be taking it off you all night long.”

A shiver visibly goes down Tally’s body and her cheeks heat just enough to notice, which means Malcolm’s done his job. 

They step into the boutique and spend the entire afternoon finding just the right gown for the occasion. 

Every smile Tally beams his direction makes every second worth it.

The night of the gala, they cut out before dessert, when the entertainment has barely started. 

Tally had been excited to see the ballet exhibition

JT and Malcolm had wanted to get her out of the black and white Alexander McQueen even more.

They go three rounds before Tally is the first to tap out. Though to be fair, they both team up on her to see just how many times they can make her come.

Malcolm loses count somewhere around seven.

And the final time for her is a moment Malcolm will likely remember for the rest of his life, sucking on her clit while JT fucks into her, getting to taste both her release  _ and  _ his come mingled together as it flooded out of her tight pussy.

He came hard while barely touching himself just from the taste alone.

But she watches the last round, quiet and intense as Malcolm rides JT with slow, deliberate rolls of his hips, draws their pleasure out as long as he can possibly stand it himself until they’re both a boneless pile of sweat, come, and skin in the center of the bed.

He  _ almost  _ falls asleep like that; warm, held, and sated.

Two hours before the sun rises, Malcolm slips from their bed, cleans up as best he can, and heads home while JT and Tally sleep soundly.

“I can’t  _ imagine  _ what is going through your head right now.”

JT steps up to Malcolm’s side at the window overlooking Martin Whitly’s hospital room, his presence and familiar scent already helping to calm Malcolm’s nerves. They don’t touch, but they’re near enough they could, easily. He wants to, desperately.

He wants to be held, finds himself aching for an embrace but with no clue how to ask for it.

“I’m not even sure I know what’s going through my head right now.” He can hear the tremor in his own voice and swallows heavily, trying to bite it back. But he can’t, he can’t hold back on the tidal wave of emotions crashing into his heart. There are so many, too many, conflicting forces pulling him in every direction until he feels like he’s being torn apart.

“Hey, Malcolm, come here.”

They must be alone.

JT only calls him Malcolm when they’re alone, just the three of them.

Suddenly, Malcolm finds himself pressed against JT’s shoulder, his warm, alpha scent curling around him even tighter than his strong, bulky arms. Malcolm doesn’t know what to do, other than to lean into it, numb and frozen, until JT keeps talking.

“You need to do me a favor, alright?” 

Malcolm just hums, basking in the way JT presses his lips lightly to his temple and continues.

“When you’re talking about shit you don’t want others to know about? Do it somewhere besides the middle of the station, no matter how quiet you think you’re being.”

His heart lurches in his chest, fear and adrenaline spiking, telling him to get away, to not stay here.

“JT, I…”

“Don’t.”

JT holds him impossibly tighter, doesn’t let him pull away - doesn’t let him run.

“I heard, and I don’t care. I just want to make sure you’re alright.”

Something in Malcolm’s chest shatters and breaks. 

But in JT’s strong, comforting embrace, somehow the pieces all stay in one place.

They help him forget.

He’ll never get away. Not really. But for a few hours, every once in a while, JT and Tally can whisk him away to a place where nothing matters but their touch, their kiss, the way their bodies seem to fit together so fucking perfectly. He drowns in the taste of them, in how JT fills him up, how Tally’s kiss can make his mind go blank.

“What do you want to do tonight, baby?” Tally’s voice is playful and sweet, but she can’t hide her concern completely. Not anymore.

Not now that he knows her better.

Usually, he likes to go with the flow, to be taken by their whims and whatever direction the mood takes them as the night goes on. 

But tonight, he knows exactly what he wants.

“I want to fuck you,” he starts, fingers curling in her hair at the nape of her neck, teasing her back so he can have access to nip and kiss at her throat. “While JT fucks me hard.”

He feels the shiver his words send down her body, smiles against the dark skin at his lips when he feels JT come up behind him, shirt already discarded, and wraps an arm around them both. “I think something like that can be arranged…” His tone is deep and wanting, dripping with desire for both of them that becomes  _ more  _ than apparent when he presses up against Malcolm, back to front, his erection quickly filling out as they stand and swap gentle touches and less than gentle kisses.

They don’t ask him what else he wants, and he knows they’ll get him where he wants to be…

Eventually.

For now, Malcolm hands himself over to JT and Tally, letting them take the lead, slipping into a daze of heat and desire as they strip him, piece by piece. Neither pulls their mouth away from his skin for long, kissing and marking him up as they go, each leaving their own set of love bites and bruises. Malcolm is still standing when he suddenly realizes his chest and back are cold - empty - and shakes out of his reverie just in time to see Tally on her knees, swallowing down his cock. He doesn’t hold back from the urge to thrust into the tight heat of her throat, she’s begged him to do it before, he’s gotten to  _ watch  _ as JT has done it, held her tight and just used those soft lips ‘til he came down her throat. 

Malcolm only fucks into her mouth twice before two strong hands still his hips, gripping hard enough to bruise for the briefest of moments before JT releases him. He holds his breath when the hands on his hips move back to his ass, squeeze and knead at his cheeks for a moment before pulling him apart and his brain short circuits. 

Before he can even make a sound, JT’s laves his thick, wet tongue across Malcolm’s hole and Malcolm’s brain turns to nothing but static. 

Though they aren’t in a rush, neither Tally nor JT hold back, finding what works and building on hit, teasing and stroking in places they are quickly learning he reacts to the best. JT’s tongue is relentless, spending what feels like hours teasing him open, fluttering against his rim until Malcolm wants to beg for more, opens his mouth to do so just as JT  _ finally _ plunges in deep, spears him open and doesn’t let up.

Back and forth they go, sucking him off and eating him out, sometimes in synch, sometimes  _ deliciously  _ out of it. 

“Fuck, I’m… I’m gonna come…”

JT doesn’t stop, fingers holding him wide while his tongue fucks roughly in and out, over and over. But Tally pulls back, moves her hand to Malcolm’s dick to jerk him the last few times ‘til he’s coming in thick white ropes over her face and chest, legs trembling, unsure of how he’s still standing upright.

And still, JT doesn’t stop.

He eats him out though his orgasm, he spreads him wider and wider with every pulse, and when it’s too much, when Malcolm’s knees threaten to buckle and he whines, high pitched and desperate, voice broken as he begs him to stop, JT finally pulls his tongue away.

Only to be replaced with two thick fingers before Malcolm can even gasp for air.

The onslaught is relentless, Tally still stroking his over sensitive cock, looking up at him completely  _ coated  _ in his come while JT works his hole, crooks his fingers until he finds his prostate and  _ doesn’t let up.  _ Malcolm never goes soft and his brain stops working, one hand gripped so tight into Tally’s hair it has  _ got  _ to hurt while the other flails out, desperate to find something to cling to in order to stay upright.

He finds the wall, and presses his hand against it, catches a lung full of air when JT pulls his fingers free only long enough to slam back in with three, right back to where they were, massaging his prostate, over and over, an endless stream of jolts of pleasure.

Something in his broken off sounds and attempts to communicate must be clear enough to JT because he nearly growls and bites playfully at Malcolm’s ass.

“Yeah, baby. That’s it. Come for us again, one more time and you can have what you asked for.” JT’s voice curls around Malcolm’s senses and even though he can’t for the life of him  _ remember  _ what he asked for, his body tightens, his toes curl into the carpet beneath his feet and his muscles feel like they’re all going to snap.

And then, JT does something he  _ never  _ does.

He  _ commands _ Malcolm to come, putting all of his Alpha authority behind the words, voice, body, and fingers  _ demanding.  _

Malcolm is helpless but to give in, entire body up on his toes, muscles from his calves to his fingers all clenched tight, spine arched back as he comes again impossibly fast after the first one, but stronger somehow never having been given a moment's reprieve. Lights flash in his vision, brain nothing but static and the white noise of his own pulse  _ pounding  _ in his ears. 

He doesn’t know how they make it to the bed, or when, or who moved whom where. All he knows is that he’s laying in a soft, cool expanse of cotton, spread out and fucked out, floating on clouds while JT and Tally share a deep, desperate kiss over him. He watches in a delightful haze, content and warm to bask in the glow of their affection, of their attention not just that they’d given him, but to each other. 

Thankfully, they give him more than just a moment to breathe, relaxing beside him while JT hands him a cold bottle of water and Tally steps away to clean up a bit. 

“You are,” Malcolm swallows another gulp of cool water, not even realizing just how parched he is, then sighs, long and sated. “You are both so amazing.”

JT’s fingers dance across Malcolm’s chest, thumb brushing against a pert nipple making Malcolm shiver and jerk slightly. “Didn’t mean to wear you out completely, but I had some plans for what you asked for if you’re still up for it.”

“In a few minutes, absolutely,” Malcolm assures him.

That earns him another low growl from JT, who shifts and leans over him so they can kiss. The heat of his mouth is a sharp contrast to the icy cool feeling still lingering on Malcolm’s from the water and Malcolm chases the warmth, pulling it into himself until it may as well have been his in the first place.

“Good, because I wanted to make sure you’d last nice and long. Want you to know what it feels like to make Tally come just on your cock while I’ve got you stuffed nice and full on my knot.” Malcolm’s dick throbs, giving a valiant effort already at trying to get hard again. He knows it won’t take much, once he truly catches his breath, gives himself a break. But JT’s words have visions swimming in his head, memories of moments they’ve already shared, sounds Tally makes as she comes, the way she clenches so beautifully around his fingers through her orgasms. 

_ Fuck,  _ he can’t wait.

Malcolm is in heaven.

True to his word, JT works him back up again, slowly this time, with Tally returning fresh and ready for them, two condoms waiting on the pillow. 

JT guides everything, with his hands, with his words. He makes Malcolm eat Tally out first, to bring her close, to make her beg. She curses them both out the third time she gets right to the edge only for Malcolm to stop, to pull away.

By the time she curses both their names, Malcolm is hard and read for her, JT working himself in and out in a slow, methodical rhythm that grazes all of Malcolm’s most sensitive and overworked nerves. When she gets up on her knees and teases herself back against his cock, Malcolm knows it’s in retaliation for how worked up he made her, and JT isn’t helping matters by picking up the pace. 

But it’s when she finally takes him in, all while JT’s knot is really starting to swell, to catch and stretch him, that Malcolm starts to properly lose track of the world and anything in existence outside of how complete he feels like this. 

Overheated.

Over-stimulated.

In way over his head.

Fucking  _ perfect.  _

JT whispers filthy things into his ear as he slams into him over and over until he can’t anymore - until he’s coming and swelling and tying them together and even then he doesn’t truly stop, snapping even harder forward, driving Malcolm into Tally at a punishing pace. Malcolm’s entire body is humming with the electricity coursing through his nerves and all he can do is hang on, head draped back onto JT’s shoulder one arm curled back and around him while the other clings desperately to Tally. JT’s mouthing at his neck, teasing his overheated sensitive flesh, teeth grazing long, tight tendons presented in supplication. 

Time stretches.

Everything becomes  _ more. _

Tally wails, her walls clenching around him, and Malcolm is lost.

But it’s JT, his broken and bitten off curse, his moan, his teeth, sinking into the skin of his neck, biting down, claiming, marking, that doesn’t so much as push him over the edge of a cliff as it does snap him in half. 

The world narrows down to those three, sharp and unyielding points of contact. His cock, buried in the fluttering tight heat of Tally’s cunt, his ass full to the brim and stretched wide on JT’s knot, and his neck, marked and claimed and blossoming in the most blissful kind of pain that will linger for days.

It will fade, eventually.

The pleasure will pass, and the mark will lessen, and the pain will be gone.

But for now, the ecstasy stretches on infinitely.

The faint buzz radiating through every inch of his skin fades so slowly it almost puts Malcolm to sleep. 

It’s not until he feels JT finally slip free of his body and the sensation of emptiness crashes into him that any of Malcolm’s other senses properly return to him. Tally is lightly dozing in his arms, all three of them with their legs and ankles twisted together beneath a thin sheet.

“Fuck.”

Malcolm turns and both he and Tally startle at his declaration, Tally blinking awake with a deep breath and a groan. JT’s tone is a decidedly unhappy one. 

“What’s wrong?” Malcolm tries to bite back on a sigh as he tries to turn completely, his body sore and aching over every inch from the exertion of the night so far. 

“The condom broke,” JT says, eyes closed in dismay with a heavy sigh. “I’m so fucking sorry, man.” 

Malcolm doesn’t even blink. It’s not surprising, given that he’s well aware JT came at least twice  _ while knotting  _ him. Knotting condoms are made to take a lot, but everything has its limits. And the physiological purpose of knotting is to breed, and an Alpha like JT? His release is excessive. Malcolm has seen it and been impressed (and more turned on) even when JT  _ wasn’t  _ knotting.

A thrill goes through Malcolm at the idea that he’s currently dripping with JT’s release. That other Alphas and Omegas will be able to smell it on him for at least the next couple of days.

But, there is that other massive elephant in the room to deal with.

He pats JT’s chest and gives him a reassuring smile.

“I am on highly reliable birth control and am very particular about it.”

JT deflates in obvious relief, leaning in for an apologetic kiss anyway.

“You sure?” He asks against Malcolm's lips, hand rubbing up and down his arm. 

“It’s going to be fine,” Malcolm assures him again. And it is. He’s not worried.

Tally curls her arm around Malcolm’s chest and presses in close, chin propped up on his shoulder while she hums in thought, fingers making mindless, shapeless figures against his skin. 

“So no little Brightlings for you?”

Malcolm can’t help but burst into laughter while he shakes his head. “That would be a phenomenally terrible idea. Can you imagine me as a parent?”

Though she inhales, obviously to make some sort of argument, JT cuts her off, brows drawn in derision. “Brightlings, babe? Really?”

“What would you call them?”

JT takes in a deep breath and rolls over onto his back, stretching out so that his whole broad,  _ touchable  _ chest is on display and Malcolm can’t stop himself from following the movement, still clinging to the expanse that is JT and curling up into his side. JT stretches his arm out and runs his fingers through Tally’s hair “LEDs,” he says eventually.

Neither of them says anything, slowly raising their heads to stare at JT in silent shock with no small amount of confusion.

Without remorse, JT raises one brow at the both of them and adds, “Small, but Bright.”

Their laughter is full and loud in the small room, warming his cheeks and his chest, and even warmer in his heart.

The next day they find themselves alone in JT’s car on the way back to the station after working the scene at a robbery turned murder. Thrill seeker. Dangerous. Unpredictable, to an extent. At least until he gets more information.

There was Martin to start the day off. Followed by his mother forcing him to talk to Eve which was really high on his list of things he did  _ not  _ want to do, thank you very much. 

And then, to top it all off before lunch, Vijay. Who seems to think they’re still in high school of all god-forsaken places by the way he acts.

It doesn’t help that since he’d had to see Martin this morning, Malcolm had felt the need to cover the mark on his neck in smudge-proof make up and hide his scent with some particularly strong blockers. He  _ wants  _ to show off the mark.  _ Wants  _ people to smell him and know that someone wants and claims him, even if the connection isn’t and will likely never be a permanent bond.

It’s nice to be wanted.

But he can’t chance it. 

He  _ may  _ be a little grumbly in the car.

“You are in some kinda mood.” JT breaks the silence and reaches for Malcolm, thumb brushing over the spot on his neck where the love bite is hiding beneath a layer of pigment. 

“I guess,” he mumbles followed by a sigh before turning to stare out the window. There are so many things running through his head and he doesn’t really have words for any of them. Not to mention he’s not exactly in a rush to burden JT with his metric ton of baggage at the moment. 

“I won’t make you talk about it, any of it, but you should know by now I’m a great listener and I’ll sit and do just that as long as you need me to.”

The light they were stopped at turns green but JT keeps his hand right where it sits against the back of Malcolm’s neck, a warm and heavy, comforting presence that seems to seep heat into Malcolm’s very bones.

He breathes, inhales deeply, and lets JT’s scent wash over him as well.

“You mean that, don’t you?” he asks, eyes closed and trying to find something to center on.

“If you haven’t figured that out by now, I’m doing something wrong.”

“Sorry, I just, the only people who ever seem to actually listen to me are well, just the one, and she’s paid to do it.” Malcolm thinks about what Gabrielle would say about… well… all of this. He still hasn’t told her about JT and Tally. Probably should. One day, he’ll find someone he can tell everything to. 

Though if not his therapist, he doubts he’ll ever actually be that comfortable with anyone.

“But you’re right, I know that about you. It just takes me a little while to trust my own feelings about things sometimes.”

Malcolm takes a deep breath, and figures there is at least  _ one  _ thing he should admit to JT.

“I’m having dinner with Eve.”

JT’s hand jerks away and Malcolm grabs it in his own before he can get fully away. “Don’t. This thing with you and Tally, it’s good and I don’t want to change it. It’s… I… Dinner is just an apology. For, well, trying to stab her.”

“Eve was the one you attacked in your sleep?”

Malcolm gives him a reluctant and almost apologetic smile. He hadn’t ever told him that they’d tried again after their disaster of a first date that had wound up kicking things off for them and Tally. He might have just let them think the date had been the end of it. “Yeeeeeeah.”

But JT doesn’t seem to care about that detail at all. “Damn. I didn’t realize that had been so recent for you.” 

“It was a few months before we started seeing each other,” Malcolm points out. It’s not like it had been  _ that  _ recent for him. 

“A couple months isn’t exactly a long time in the grand scheme of mental health.”

“You’re not  _ wrong.” _

“You need to admit that to yourself more often.”

Malcolm can’t help but chuckle, enjoying the way JT smirks at him.

“That’s not the only thing though, is it?” JT says quietly. 

Without realizing what’s going on, Malcolm feels a damn break and he finds himself pouring everything out in that car. It’s too much, he should stop, but he can’t. Once he gets going, every little detail of just that  _ one  _ morning comes rushing out. His father’s manipulations and blackmail, his mother tricking him into the call with Eve, his fear that everything will be terrible and awkward with her at dinner, worry over Vijay coming back into his life and getting in the way of the case - or worse - treating him like they’re still 16. Not to mention how him being there just brings up reminders of how alone Malcolm has always been. How everyone eventually gives up on him.

By the time they reach the station, Malcolm doesn’t feel  _ better  _ about any of it for having gotten it out, but he certainly feels a whole hell of a lot lighter. 

In the parking garage, he tugs JT’s hand up to his lips and presses a fleeting kiss to the Alpha’s knuckles. “Thank you,” he whispers into the quiet privacy of the car, a motion not likely to be spotted by anyone who may be passing by. “For listening.”

To Malcolm’s immense surprise, JT tugs Malcolm in and gives him a proper kiss, hand in his hair, lips parted, deep and…  _ tender.  _

It steals his breath and leaves him without words.

“One day, you’ll believe me when I tell you I’m here for you. Me and Tally both.”

“I’m s—” JT cuts him off with a finger pressed to Malcolm’s lips.

“Don’t apologize. We get it. We really do. And we’re patient. We can wait for you to understand, to believe in us.”

Malcolm does  _ not  _ understand.

And the feelings tugging at his heart that he  _ also  _ doesn’t understand terrify him.

An hour after that exchange, a few minutes after the exceptionally awkward conversation with Vijay in the station, Malcolm’s phone pings with a new picture message.

It’s Tally, in their group chat, with an  _ adorable  _ selfie. 

She’s got a coffee in her hand and a soft looking scoop neck white long sleeve t on. Her hair is swept to one side in soft curls and the look on her face is daring and playful. 

Malcolm can’t help but smile down at his phone and goes to send an appreciative text when another pops in from JT.

> **Julius Teaser** \- Thanks hun. That did the trick.
> 
> ???

He glances up to see JT looking at him from across the bullpen, a self-satisfied smirk on his lips and a warmth in his eyes that steals Malcolm’s breath.

The smile grows, and his cheeks heat.

Tally sends him cute selfies all afternoon.

By the time Eve is at his place, the cute selfies have become suggestive poses with more and more skin in each picture.

He makes sure to silence the group chat while they eat.

It’s late, too late. He’s more than tired. Malcolm is exhausted. But when he throws his coat on to finally make his way home after everything has been processed from his time with the thieves and he’s gotten enough of his story on paper, he reaches in his pocket and stills when he touches his phone.

There are a  _ lot _ of messages waiting for him.

All in the group chat.

Almost all from Tally

The most recent one is her standing in front of a mirror in a white lace teddy with a matching lace robe hanging open.

His pants are suddenly quite a bit tighter.

JT walks up to him with his own phone in hand, face carefully blank but unable to hide the desire in his eyes from Malcolm.

“I think someone is waiting up for us. Want a ride?”

“Absolutely.”

That night he takes Tally from behind while she rides JT, swallows her cries as she comes over and over again from the way they both fuck her and touch her and never ever let her catch her breath from one to the next. He can feel JT through her, feel his body tremble just as clearly as he can feel Tally’s. When he comes, it’s with his mouth on Tally’s skin and his hand curled around both of theirs.

He’s more reluctant to leave that night than he’s ever been before.

It’s still not safe, he still doesn’t trust himself, and if he’s honest, doesn’t fully trust they’ll still want him if anything happens.

When Malcolm walks toward home in the early morning pre-dawn hours, he feels a single tear slip down his cheek.

God, does he hope that one day he’ll believe.


	4. Changes

Tally is a nervous wreck.

There aren’t many things that can send her anxiety spiking through the roof. She’s married to a cop. She runs an exclusive, high caliber marketing team with picky, tight-fisted and exacting clients and has made a name for herself in the most cutthroat marketing company in the city. 

It takes _a lot_ to rattle her.

And she is fucking rattled.

Because she is fucking pregnant.

It’s not unexpected. It’s not even unwelcome. The timing baffles her though since they quit using any sort of birth control almost two years ago and despite assurances from several doctors that everything was a-okay with both of them, they hadn’t conceived yet. 

Until now.

Now that things have changed.

That they’ve started something new and exciting with Malcolm and both of them are falling hard and fast for him. 

They want this. 

They want him.

And she’s terrified that they can’t have both.

JT comes through the front door while she’s pacing the length of the living room. She’s been home for two hours and already cleaned everything she could get her hands on to try and work out her nerves. But the place is spotless and all she can think to do is pace.

The second he’s got the door closed JT scoops her into his arms and brings her in for a deep kiss. “Well?” He asks the moment they come up for air. He doesn’t let her go, though. Just holds her tight while she takes a deep breath.

Then she smiles.

“Doctor confirmed it. Almost eight weeks.”

His whoop of excitement and laughter is infectious, especially as he lifts her in the air and spins before coming in for another long, deep and passionate kiss. His excitement is palpable. For someone usually so stoic and straight-faced the smile lighting up his features is brilliant and seems like it will never end. 

For a long time, they just hold each other, Tally with tears of joy occasionally trickling down her cheek. 

And a knot still lingering in her stomach.

JT pulls back, tears welling in his own eyes, and some of the excitement on his face dims as he takes in Tally’s expression.

“Something’s bothering you.”

It’s not a question. He says it like he knows it as well as he knows the sky is blue. She couldn’t deny it if she wanted to.

Tally nods and pats JT’s chest before shaking her head and curling back up in his arms, head on his shoulder.

“What about Malcolm?”

He seems to freeze, his grip around her middle going tight while he takes in her words, picks up her fears, and helps carry the burden. LIke he’s always done. Like they always do for each other. Like they’ve been trying to do for Malcolm. 

“What about him? Things don’t have to change. At least, not right away.” He’s rubbing her back now, soothing her and rocking just a little back and forth.

“But they will. Eventually. They’ll have to. And best case scenario he still wants to play with us but we see him less because of… _everything._ But what if he doesn’t actually like children? And doesn’t want to be around at all? What if he worries about getting all tangled up with us when there are kids in the picture? What if he sticks around and then realizes it’s too much? He’s made it quite clear his feelings on being a parent. Does that extend to being around kids in general? If we ask him to stick with us, are we forcing him to face fears he’s not ready to even if he wouldn’t be in an official parenting role? What about…”

“Hey, hey hey. Slow down there, baby. That’s a lot of what-ifs to be getting all worked up over when we haven’t even talked to the man yet.” 

“I…” Tally takes a deep breath, closes her eyes, and quietly admits her greatest fear of all in this moment. “I don’t want to lose him.”

JT kisses her temple and she can feel his smile against her skin. It settles something in her chest that she didn’t realize needed it, that she hadn’t realized needed his acceptance as well. “Sounds like someone’s getting attached again. I thought you said it was going to be ‘just sex’?” There’s no accusation in his tone. He’s more amused than anything and Tally swats at his arm, shaking her head.

“God, baby, it wasn’t just sex with him _before_ we had sex.” They’ve been in too deep since the first time they took him out just the three of them. He’s an amazing man with a dark past that just makes the light he brings into the world - into their life - all the brighter. 

She doesn’t want to lose that.

Neither of them do.

“I am one hundred percent aware of the fact that we were both lying through our teeth to ourselves the first time we even brought up the idea of inviting him into our bedroom and the phrase ‘it’s just sex’ was said out loud.” JT runs a hand through her hair again and guides her head back so they can look at each other. There’s still a soft, loving smile on his lips and excitement and warmth in his gaze that she will never _ever_ tire of. “But let’s give it a little time. Let’s really sit down and come to terms with this change ourselves first. Give us a few weeks and we’ll talk to him about it. Maybe on a movie night where we’re just lounging around in comfortable clothes and cuddling so there’s no pressure for any kind of specific response, hm?”

Tally nods with a heavy sigh and goes to wipe away her tears but JT beats her to it. His touch is tender as he brushes his thumb across her cheek and follows it up with an even softer kiss in its wake. 

“I love you,” JT says quietly just before pressing a lingering kiss to her lips. “I love our baby.” His hand moves to her abdomen. “And I know we are both falling for Malcolm way harder than expected. I want him around just as much as you do, and all we can do is make sure he feels as welcome and safe and secure with us as we make each other feel. If he doesn’t want to be around even then, we’ll just have to deal with it. But we’ll always have each other.” 

Tally spends the entire weekend on Instagram.

Baby clothes and babymoons and baby names and following popular mommy bloggers and some not so popular ones that she sees have potential. The Mom-o-sphere isn’t her area of expertise when it comes to marketing but it never hurts to have a wider understanding of the industry at large.

JT gets surprisingly into it.

And she has to physically stop herself from sharing cute shit with their group chat.

> **Malcolm B** : Tally! 
> 
> **Malcolm B:** Beautiful, wondrous, light of the world and most brilliant woman I’ve ever met.
> 
> **Husband** : Uh oh, someone wants something.
> 
> Someone just has to ask,
> 
> I’m usually willing to do anything
> 
> for those big blue eyes.
> 
> ........And I do mean anything.
> 
> **Malcolm B:** Let me take you to lunch?
> 
> Bad morning, baby? 
> 
> We still have our date for tomorrow,
> 
> but I could make room for you today too.
> 
> **Malcolm B:** Just left Claremont.
> 
> **Husband:** Oof.
> 
> I’m free at one. Just say where.

The dining room at Majorelle is quiet today. It’s never too boisterous, being the kind of upscale joint Malcolm loves taking her to when it’s just the two of them, but today it’s even more subdued. 

As she sits across from Malcolm, who looks brighter just from seeing her, their waiter - who has taken care of them numerous times before - sets two glasses on the table. “A Highland Park for the gentleman, and Ville Rose for the lady.” He bows with a smile, Tally freezes for half a second, hoping Malcolm doesn’t notice.

“Oh, actually, can I have some ginger ale today, Derrick?” Malcolm tilts his head and before he can say or assume _anything_ she rolls her eyes. “I have a presentation to the board of directors later today and if I play my cards right, it’ll mean when Casem retires next year, I get his job as Division Director. I can’t let anything but myself be a factor in messing it up. And I may be more of a nervous wreck than ever before about the whole thing.”

For a second, she doesn’t think Malcolm is buying it, despite it being 99% the truth. She does have a presentation. It will put herself two years ahead of schedule on her career goals. She _is_ a nervous wreck about the whole thing.

Normally, that would mean extra shots at lunch, not less.

But besides the fact she can’t drink anymore, morning sickness has reared its ugly head and isn’t doing her nerves any favors. 

So, ginger ale.

There’s a moment where she thinks Malcolm’s going to push, where he’s not going to accept that answer. His eyes are narrowed and he’s looking at her curiously, but when he opens his mouth, she breathes a sigh of relief. “I knew you’d been working on a big project at work, but not that it was so important. Are we _talking_ about the presentation this close to it, or ignoring its existence?” He reaches across the table to take her hand in his. “Either way, I’m sure we can work out those nerves somehow.”

Tally smiles and falls a little harder for him.

“Let me tell you all about it.”

The three of them celebrate her success at their favorite local bar that night.

And then again at home.

Over and over again.

She was offered the Division Director position before she left the building after her presentation and the timing couldn’t _be_ more perfect. Next month, she’ll start working with Casem closely in addition to her normal duties, learning the ropes, taking on larger and more complicated responsibilities until she takes her maternity leave. Maternity leave will end two months before his official retirement, which will be the perfect amount of time to train her own replacement and catch up on the outstanding projects she’ll be taking over.

By the time Malcolm leaves them that night, she’s ready to crawl into bed and sleep for a week.

“You know,” JT starts as he comes back into the bedroom after seeing Malcolm out. “Now that you’re pregnant, we could add a few more fun things to our bedroom rotations.”

 _That_ perks her up and she opens her arms for him as he slides into the bed. “Oh? Do tell.”

His tone sparks the heat back up deep in her belly that she had thought long dead for the evening. Especially after how many orgasms the two men had wrung out of her.

JT hums and drags his hands along the curve of her side, over her hip and down her thigh. His thick fingers find her still open and wet, still dripping with his come. “He could fuck you bare.” The deep tone of his voice coupled with the way he curls his fingers has her body singing for him already - exhaustion forgotten. “We could let Malcolm know what this really feels like, how fucking tight you feel without anything between the two of you.” 

“Fuck… _baby…_ ” Tally rocks her hips against his hand, clings to his shoulder, and bites back a gasp when he begins circling his thumb around her swollen and overstimulated clit. 

“Mmm, let him fill you up. Then I, _fuck_ , I want to eat you out when he’s done with you. Lick your little cunt til I've gotten every last drop of him.” 

He picks up the pace, curling his fingers just right so he doesn’t have to fuck in and out as much as just grind her senses to a state of ecstasy.

“And you know what else?”

She makes a choked off noise of desperation and shakes her head, clinging to his shoulder. 

“I could finally fucking give you what you’ve always wanted… me and Malcolm, both fucking into your pussy at the same time, see how much of the two of us you could take….”

When Tally comes, it’s a quick, sharp orgasm that rises and crests and falls in the span of just a few heartbeats. And JT lingers, stills his hands, fingers still deep inside her, face a soft smile of contentment as her walls clench and tremble around him.

“That’s it, that’s what I want to really share with him.” And he kisses her, long and slow until she’s breathing normally again, sleep already trying to pull her back under.

She yawns against his chest, nuzzling down even further into his warm embrace. “We’ll tell him this weekend….” 

> Movie night! 
> 
> Sunday! 
> 
> Bring sweats
> 
> and the most comfortable sweater you own
> 
> and expect *lots* of cuddling.
> 
> **Malcolm B** : Is there a special occasion? And who gets to pick the movie?
> 
> **Husband** : Have we reached the needing a special occasion to do something special phase of this relationship?
> 
> You get first pick, then me. 
> 
> If we’re not naked and sweaty
> 
> by the time that one is over
> 
> then I suppose JT can have a go, too.
> 
> **Husband** : I’m good if I don’t.
> 
> **Malcolm B** : I’m inclined to agree.
> 
> **Malcolm B** : And if we are naked and sweaty before my choice is over?
> 
> That’s an option as well. 
> 
> I don’t pretend to know how these things will go.
> 
> (I know exactly how these things will go)
> 
> **Malcolm B** : I’ll be sure to pick something extra boring.
> 
> Or something extra spicy?
> 
> **Malcolm B** : We could just cut out the middleman and find some porn.
> 
> **Husband** : Won’t work.
> 
> **Malcolm B** : ?
> 
> ?
> 
> **Husband** : After getting to watch you two together, porn is kind of pointless to me. Nothing is as hot as watching you make my wife come.
> 
> **Malcolm B** : ………..I’m POSITIVE we can come up with something we’ll all be happy to ignore.


	5. Feeling's Mutual

“What Alessa did back there - that was badass.”

JT has always admired a kick-ass woman and seeing someone go all out to protect their child - it’s something else.

Malcolm nods in agreement. “Well, parents will do almost anything to protect their young.” He smirks and looks around the bullpen then steps in closer, a smile on his lips that doesn’t reach his eyes. “Congrats, by the way.”

Stones drop into JT’s stomach and his chest goes cold. 

Malcolm knows.

“On what?” He asks, hoping he’s wrong.

“On eating all the pizza rolls and knowing way too much about sip and sees.”

With his heart racing, and knowing deep in his soul that Tally’s going to blame him for not getting to tell Malcolm herself, JT looks around for a second before dragging Malcolm into the nearest empty, dark office. 

Then, with light barely filtering through the closed blinds all around them, JT waits for Malcolm to continue. 

With a heavy sigh, he does. “Tally’s pregnant. She turned down her favorite cocktail at Majorelle when she was nervous about a presentation when usually she’d have an extra one. Then at the bar I saw the tab where she was just drinking plain diet soda all night instead of the captain and coke she usually gets when she’s in the mood for something fizzy. Those things, coupled with everything from today....”

“We were going to tell you - “

“It’s not like you could keep it from me forever.”

“...this _weekend_ ,” JT assures him with a glare for trying to interrupt. 

Malcolm still looks almost sad. “So _that’s_ the special occasion, then?”

JT can’t stop the frustrated sigh from escaping. “Look, we only found out last week. We took a little time to process and make sure we were on the same page and haven’t even told our families yet. We wanted you to be the first.”

“Tally hasn’t even told her mother?”

“If Tally told her mother, all of New York would already know. I love that woman but she’s got a bigger mouth than anyone I’ve ever met and doesn’t ever keep quiet when it comes to spouting off about upcoming grandchildren.” That, at least, gets a true smile from Malcolm and JT moves in a little closer, taking advantage of the way Malcolm’s shoulders have relaxed to reach for him, to glide his hands up his arms. He settles one around the back of Malcolm’s neck and gives him a light squeeze, crooking his own smile at the way the smaller man melts into it, leans back into his touch, and seems to deflate even further. 

“So, is this weekend going to be one last hoorah, or just planning for the end?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about the fact that obviously we have to end things. Either now or eventually but either way it has to, right? I can’t imagine you’ll want to play much once you’ve got a baby to take care of and you can’t possibly want someone like me around a _child._ Hell, I wouldn’t want someone like me around my child. Not that I’d ever have one. But can you imagine how…”

Despite swearing when he was young that he would never, _ever,_ do this, JT shuts Malcolm up with a kiss.

At first, Malcolm jerks in surprise, but immediately melts right into it, clinging to JT like he’s desperate to hold on. And, a voice deep in the back of JT’s head reminds him, he probably is. 

But JT does everything he can to chase down those worries and fears, to remind him by touch how much he means to them. When they stop, JT stays close, resting his forehead against Malcolm’s and holding him tight. “You done for a second?”

Malcolm swallows and nods.

“For two of the strongest people I know, you and Tally are worrying way too much about something you haven’t even talked about yet.”

“Tally’s worried? About…”

“About losing you. About you not wanting to stay around for any number of reasons.”

“I just thought you wouldn’t want,”

This time, JT silences Malcolm with a single finger pressed to his lips. “Why don’t you stop assuming, and just ask. Talk to us. For two people who can talk in circles around me, you two sure need to be told when to actually speak up a lot.” He gives Malcolm another easy grin and rubs his thumb in gentle circles where it’s resting against his pulse point. 

As usual, when JT or Tally try and tell him just how important he is, Malcolm doesn’t exactly look convinced. 

More importantly, though, he no longer looks ready to throw in the towel. 

“Right. Talking. I can do that. Just, say how I feel, ask how you guys feel, and um, respond, well, honestly? When asked?”

JT nods slowly, grin growing in amusement. “That’s generally the best way to go about it, yeah.” He takes a moment to stand still and just exist with Malcolm in the silence, looking into his eyes and desperately hoping he’s getting across just how much he means everything he ever tells him. “I know we have plans for the weekend, but you’re welcome to come home with me tonight. Now that the cat’s out of the bag.”

Much to JT’s disappointment, Malcolm shakes his head and glances down, breaking eye contact and not even attempting to return it. “Maybe not tonight. There are still some other things going on I have to deal with. And just, well…”

“You still don’t believe in us, do you?”

He doesn’t mean to sound agitated about it, but the frustration slips through. He can’t help it, and he immediately hates himself for it and opens his mouth to apologize, but Malcolm speaks first.

“JT…” He does look up then, meeting JT’s gaze and there’s such heavy sadness in his eyes that JT’s heart almost stops.

“I don’t believe in _me._ ”

His words are soft, broken, no more than a whisper in the dark and otherwise empty room. 

Barely holding back on his own emotions, JT wraps Malcolm up in a tight embrace, holding him close and only breathing again when Malcolm returns it. 

For a long, drawn-out amount of time they just stand there holding one another, JT holding Malcolm up and Malcolm simply holding on. 

It’s a shift in the ground beneath their feet. The change coming is expected, but no less jarring for how it is affecting them, how they have to relearn to hold their balance and remain standing. But as long as Malcolm is willing to stand with them through it, JT is bound and determined to be there to help hold him up.

“Take your time,” he says quietly, pressing a lingering kiss to Malcolm’s temple. “If you’re ready, come over this weekend. We’ll work through this, one way or another.” JT pulls back, then, still holding Malcolm by the arms but desperate for him to see the truth of what he says in his eyes. “And if not staying with us is what you wind up actually wanting - and not what you think we want or what we should want - we’ll fight for you, but we won’t stop you.”

“Thank you, JT. I—” he stops himself and shakes his head with a rueful laugh before stepping back. “I can’t tell you how much that means to me.” 

> **T-Baby:** Did you pick out a movie yet?
> 
> **Bright:** I have a couple of ideas. 
> 
> So you’re still coming, then?
> 
> **Bright:** I wouldn’t miss it.

“What if he…”

“Tally. Stop. He’ll be here tomorrow afternoon.”

JT very pointedly does not laugh at the way her face squishes up in frustration at being interrupted. It’s fucking cute and he’d learned years ago not to point out how adorable she is when she’s only _kind_ of mad. 

“Go to sleep, and we’ll get it all figured out tomorrow.”

JT doesn’t actually get nervous until about two hours before Malcolm is supposed to show up.

And he’s less nervous, and more terrified it will be their last afternoon together as anything more than just friends and co-workers because they won’t be able to convince Malcolm that they truly, deeply, and without ulterior motives, care for him. 

Tally jumps up off the couch when there’s a knock on their door faster than JT has ever seen her move.

By the time he turns to look, she’s yanked poor Malcolm into the apartment, shut the door, and pulled him into a deep and unyielding kiss. 

“Let the man breathe, hun.”

But neither of them listen.

Malcolm’s messenger bag falls to the floor with a heavy thunk and he wraps his arms around Tally, one around her waist, the other hand carded through her long, loose hair, holding on tight. They’re of a height, so neither has to bend or reach, and they fit together so perfectly, clinging, ignoring the rest of the world, including JT. 

It warms something in his chest to see them, though. The fears he’d kept quiet are eased somewhat by how desperately they seem to have needed this moment together and he wishes he could know what is going through their heads right now. 

Since he’s not, unfortunately, a mind reader, JT stands as well and makes his way to where they’re _still_ deep in a long, lingering embrace. 

“Or, don’t. That’s fine too. But maybe I could get a chance to say hello?”

Reluctantly, Malcolm is the one to break the kiss, pulling back enough he can give JT a wry smile and a quick kiss of his own. It’s over before it really starts, though. “Hello, JT.” Malcolm turns back to Tally and cups her cheek. “Hey, Tally,” he says, voice as soft and tender as JT’s ever heard it. 

“I was scared you wouldn’t show,” she admits with tears already pooling in her eyes. 

Malcolm drops his gaze for a moment, like he’s ashamed. “I kinda was too, if I’m being honest.”

“Come on,” JT interrupts the moment with a quick squeeze to the back of Malcolm’s neck before either of them can dive in any deeper. “We are not having this conversation at the front door when there’s a nice big, cushy couch in the living room that Tally paid a whole lot of money for that we could be sitting on instead.”

Tally curls up at Malcolm’s side while JT sits on the ottoman in front of them, leaning forward, elbows on knees, close enough if he laid his arms out he’d be holding onto Malcolm. 

There is silence for a long time, but JT’s okay with that. He can handle silence, waiting. If Malcolm needs a few minutes of comfort to just breathe and work out what he needs to say one last time before he says it, then so be it.

“I’m scared,” Malcolm eventually admits. His eyes are closed and he’s breathing deep, swaying slowly back and forth from leaning towards Tally to inhaling in JT’s direction. “I’m scared of losing both of you, in any capacity and _every_ capacity. I’m scared that if we aren’t having sex you wouldn’t want me for any of the other times. I’m scared I’m going to screw it up. That I’ll hurt one of you. That I’ll be in the way - eventually - after getting really, really fucking attached. And honestly,” Malcolm does open his eyes then and twists a little towards a teary-eyed Tally, reaching towards her center before dropping his hand heavily back into his own lap. “I’m terrified I’m intruding on the biggest milestone of your life together.”

“We’re scared too, baby.” Tally’s voice is soft and reassuring as she strokes her fingers through his hair. “Of all the unknowns, but right now, I’m most scared of losing you because you won’t want to deal with all this, that bringing a baby into the equation would be too much for you.”

“Wait, you’re worried I would want out _just_ because of the baby?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t _want_ to go anywhere, Tally.” He twists around fully so one leg is bent up on the couch and he can face her directly. “You and JT have changed my life these last few months. More than anything I don’t want to keep… keep falling like I am only to be pushed out when I get to be too much. When you finally realize I’m too much.”

JT has to hold his hands up and silently ask for a pause so he can parse out what Malcolm just said, and not let how phenomenally stupid he finds the idea show.

“Malcolm. Dude, are you serious right now?”

“Yes?”

“The day I met you, I watched you _chop off a man’s hand._ And that same night? You begged a serial killer to _kill you._ ”

Malcolm opens and closes his mouth a few times before he deflates.

“That… did happen, yes. Not my finest hour I suppose. I fail to see how that’s relevant.”

“How that’s… seriously? You’re worried you’re going to eventually be too much for us when I’ve already seen you at peak Malcolm Bright. Several times. We know what we’re getting into. I’ve seen it first hand. I’ve accepted it.”

Tally shifts a little closer. “Malcolm,” she kisses his cheek, “baby,” his temple, “we’ve both accepted it. And we’ve been waiting with open arms for a while now for you to just open your eyes and see they’re waiting for _you._ ”

For a long time, Malcolm just looks between the two of them, working out whatever is going through his head in silence.

When he nods, JT feels something loosen in his own chest, the worry and fear that had been gripping at him abating just enough he feels like he can breathe again. 

The kiss he gives Malcolm is slow and full of promise.

“For what it’s worth,” he starts when he pulls back to catch his breath, “with or without you, we’re terrified of becoming parents. I have no freaking clue on how to be a dad, certainly not any more than you do.”

Malcolm grins and drops his gaze. “Well, don’t become a serial killer and you’ll have a leg up on my primary role model.” 

“I’m telling Gil you said that.”

Malcolm’s answering smile and brilliant laugh are beautiful. “Fair point. Maybe I’m not going into this whole thing as blind as I keep telling myself.”

They kiss again, deeper this time until Tally interrupts and takes Malcolm for herself for a few minutes. JT can see their tongues slipping in and out of each other’s mouths, getting deeper and filthier as they keep going. 

“I uh,” Malcolm stops but doesn’t pull away, pecks Tally’s lips, and then her cheek while stroking JT’s arm. “I did do one other thing this week. While fearing the worst, I did have a moment of hope for the best and started daydreaming about the kind of things we could get up to now.”

The hungry glint in Tally’s gaze grows sharper, eyes darting between them both. “You two, I swear. Thinking the same damn things, I bet.” 

“God, I hope so,” JT agrees.

“Anyway, I had a panel done.” Malcolm pulls out his phone and shows them the email he received from his full blood workup stating he’s clean as a whistle. 

JT can’t help but chuckle and shake his head. “You know the way we fuck, literally the _only_ things those condoms have been preventing is pregnancy.” 

By Malcolm’s deep red blush and dazed grin he is well aware. “Yeah, but it’s good to have done every now and then anyway.”

“JT is not complaining and we _both_ appreciate the thought. Don’t we.”

“Yes, dear.”

“Now tell me about those thoughts you were having…”

They never get to the movies.

Hours later, after scrounging up something resembling a dinner and baking snickerdoodles because Tally suddenly had to have them, they’re laying in bed. JT is propped up on his elbow, head in hand, while Malcolm presses a long slow trail of kisses up every inch of Tally’s naked body. He stops to kiss her still flat abdomen, dips back down to lick and tease at her folds for a moment, only long enough to get a gasp and a bright, breathy laugh out of her, before returning to his previous path. Malcolm lingers at her breast, taking one in a gentle hold while curling his tongue around the nipple, taking his time to tease her there too. He grins the whole way, occasionally glancing up to see Tally’s reaction. Eventually, he surges up to kiss her lips, to explore her mouth with his tongue while he keeps massaging her breast. 

JT can see how hard he is, how his cock slips against the v of her hips while he hovers over her, using everything he’s learned over the last few months to build up her pleasure at every point possible before ever moving further. He loves it, loves watching the two of them, getting to see every inch from where he lays. The things he knows about both of them from his love of just observing…

Tally’s toes curl whenever she’s surprised by a sensation, but her whole legs bend up slowly as her pleasure builds. When she’s on top, that translates into her legs spreading wider and wider on either side of whoever she’s riding. She tends to leave marks on the back of whoever she’s holding onto, and when he’s watching her with Malcolm, JT can see that when she feels good but is riding an easy wave, her movements may seem random, but are deliberate. But when she’s losing control, when she’s being fucked hard and fast and riding the edge of her release but _doesn’t want to let go yet_ , that’s how she stays focused.

And Malcolm, Malcolm has been a joy to watch and to learn. 

His skin flushes a deep shade of red, spreading out from the small of his back further and further the more worked up he gets. He can bend and contort at some fascinating, beautiful fucking angles, muscles shifting in a mesmerizing way beneath his skin. God bless yoga. Then there’s the way his hair always falls, just a few loose strands into his face when he really starts to get going.

And his _ass._ Tight, round, pert cheeks that JT honestly just wants sitting around in his lap twenty-four seven.

Malcolm hooks an arm around one of Tally’s legs and lifts it up, spreading her wide while he slips his cock along the wet lines of her pussy, not sinking in yet, teasing them both.

And JT holds his breath, waits, and watches.

They play a game of cat and mouse, teasing each other, Tally trying to tilt her hips at just the right angle and Malcolm pulling away at the last second. She retaliates with her nails down his back and a tight grip in his ass that attempts to pull him down. 

“Is there something you want?” Malcolm asks, teasing, mouth right against her pulse point. He follows it up with a nip at her neck, a kiss, a lick.

“I want you to _fuck me,_ Mal-OH, _fuck!”_

Malcolm snaps his hips forward and slams into her in a single movement, driving her body up the bed. He stops there, buried to the hilt, and hums, sound ending in a whine while his whole body trembles. 

“God, Tally, you feel better than I could have ever imagined.” He starts to move, small, deep rolls of his hips that JT knows has him grinding against the spots Tally loves best.

“Did you?” She’s breathless but smiling wide and happy. “Did you imagine this?”

“So many fucking times…”

Both of them can’t seem to form words any longer the moment Malcolm picks up the pace and begins fucking her in earnest.

JT takes just a moment to breathe deep and center, squeezing the base of his dick. The sights and sounds and smells drive his body wild. He can feel the build up of heat in the air, seeping into his skin and igniting every inch of his nerves. Then he reaches out, reaches between them, and slips his fingers down, down, to the soft, wet flesh of Tally’s cunt, around Malcolm’s cock as he pounds into her. 

And then he crooks his thumb around her swollen bundle of nerves and she wails.

Between the two of them, Tally comes twice before Malcolm stills with a chest-deep groan and falls forward only to be caught in a filthy kiss by JT. 

When Malcolm slips out of Tally, leaves her puffy and dripping, JT’s brain short circuits for a long moment. Thick, white come drips from her cunt and JT’s cock throbs hard.

“Jesus, come here, baby. I have got to taste you right now.”

As she moves, shifts up onto her knees, Tally looks down at him with a wicked grin. “Hmmm, this what you want?”

She slips two fingers into herself before bringing them up to her own lips and sucking ever so lightly, a deep, pleased groan to go with the filthy visual. But JT is done waiting, done being patient, and yanks her over hard enough she squeals, followed by a giggle, and puts her right where he wants her, with her cunt right over his face.

JT points his tongue and circles her clit and her entrance, teasing her until she cries out and begs him to just get on with it, then plunges inside.

It’s thick and hot and _messy_ and he loves every single taste that explodes on his tongue as he fucks it into her.

He feels the condom get rolled down his cock, would look up and watch if he could - would _say_ something. But he can’t move his head, tongue buried in Tally’s body, her hips holding him down, grinding hard against his face until he’s drowning in the two of them until he can’t breathe - and he’s fucking _living_ for it.

The moment Malcolm seats himself firmly on JT’s dick, he knows it’s going to be over _way_ too soon. Malcolm takes only a moment to breathe and adjust before he’s snapping his hips up and down at a brutal pace, fucking himself hard on JT’s cock, rim already starting to catch on his half swollen knot. JT would fuck up into him, he wants to, he tries, but he's so light-headed and desperate from the taste on his tongue and his need to come that he can't keep up any kind of rhythm, and eventually just lets Malcolm take complete control.

When he comes, it’s with Tally sitting hard on his face, gushing her own release and Malcolm locked tight and making the most filthy sounds as he tries to keep fucking himself down on his knot. He comes long and hard, spine curled and lungs burning with the need to breathe again, but he doesn’t care, doesn’t want it to end, as pulse after pulse rushes through his body, coming more and more with each grind and roll of Malcolm’s hips until he feels the telltale wet heat of Malcolm’s own release spilling over JT’s stomach and chest and the world finally stills. 

Tally falls to the side. Malcolm leans heavily on his chest. None of them can catch their breath for a long time, worn out and wrung dry. 

And it’s absolutely fucking perfect.

JT stirs unexpectedly in the middle of the night, waking to find Malcolm asleep, still there. For the first time since all this started, he finds himself in the center - Tally curled up on one side, Malcolm on the other. With his chest already clenching, JT inhales deeply, letting their combined scents flood his senses. When he can’t pick one scent out from the other, when he realizes that all three of them have blended and molded together to form something new and brilliant, he feels that bone-deep knowledge that this is right, this is good. 

And for just a fleeting, greedy, selfish moment, he allows himself to dream of what this would be like to have forever.


	6. Nightmares

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In real life, the day a person conceives, the medical community considers them two weeks pregnant. But this ain't fuckin’ real life so I do what I want. *throws confetti*

Light streams through the wide-open window, the city skyline illuminated by the rising sun casting a soft orange glow over the world. There’s a peacefulness in the air, something soothing, settling.

Gentle music floats through from some unknown direction, everywhere all at once.

The world sleeps.

He’s never been here before. Not that he remembers. 

Nothing is familiar.

But somehow, it still feels right.

“Papa?”

Malcolm turns to find two little children, a boy and girl, hand in hand, staring up at him from the entryway to the empty living room he’s suddenly standing in. The little girl, with her tight bushy curls tied up in pigtails, rubs her eyes with a big yawn while the one that is obviously her brother drags her forward towards the center of the room.

“You guys are up early.”

He doesn’t know why he says that.

But he kneels with open arms, picking them up with ease.

They fit there, perfectly. 

“Sissy said we have to find her.” The little boy—who looks just like his sister but with much fairer skin—curls up in Malcolm’s arms, head tucked into the crook of his neck and holds on tight. “We have to find her.” His dark curls need to be cut again. They’re getting long and tickling Malcolm’s chin. Maybe they’ll make an appointment with the hairdresser for both of them later in the week.

“What? That’s silly. Your sister is right here.”

Malcolm goes to bounce the little girl in his other arm but nearly stumbles when he finds it empty. “What the…”

A giggle cuts through his senses.

“See, papa.” 

Malcolm spins and everything changes. He’s in JT and Tally’s living room and she’s still not there.

He’s in his loft and she giggles again.

He’s in his basement and she’s playing in the box. 

Her curls bounce, flyaways going everywhere from being slept on and tossing and turning all night. She always looks a mess in the mornings, no matter what any of them try. When she smiles, he feels the warmth of it in his very soul. “We have to find her, papa.”

Both his arms are empty now.

Malcolm can’t breathe.

He’s reaching out, yelling but can’t make out his own words.

They’re both giggling. Playing together with toys he can’t see.

“You can’t have them, Malcolm.”

The box snaps shut with a deafening crack. 

On the lid, she sits. Drenched and rotting, hair tangled with dirt and filth just like always. Her legs are crossed and arms splayed wide over the damned bane of his existence, fingers tap tap tapping on the lid.

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

“Give them back,” he pleads. He begs. In his chest, his heart feels wrenched into two pieces without them in his arms, without them safe and taken care of. They aren’t safe. They’ll never be safe.

Because of him. 

“You can’t have them, Malcolm. You can’t have any of this. None of it.”

They’re in the high rise again, and the morning light feels pale and sickly, all the warmth from before replaced with an empty chill. 

“But I’ve tried, I’ve tried so hard.” It’s not enough, it’s never enough. Not for her. Not for him. 

“You have to find me.”

“It’s not…” It’s not his fault. He knows this. Over and over again, everyone tells him. And he never believes. He can’t say it. Can’t make the argument. He just knows he can’t take this. Can’t save her and still needs what she’s holding hostage.

“Give them back,” Malcolm demands, voice weak and pitiful.

“You don’t  _ deserve  _ this, Malcolm!” She’s angry again, furious with him like she always gets.

He lunges for her, ready to throw her off so he can get to what she’s locked away.

“Malcolm…”

“Give them  _ back!”  _ His hands meet flesh but it’s stronger than him. 

“Malcolm!” 

When his eyes snap open Malcolm finds himself in JT and Tally’s room with JT holding his hands just tightly enough he can’t really move but not enough to hurt or leave a mark. Malcolm is breathless, chest heaving in the dim light of the early dawn. There are tears in his eyes and he doesn’t want to face this, doesn’t want to think about what he’s done.

_ Again. _

“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry. She took them and I just… I had to get them back.” He tries to pull away, to get away, but JT doesn’t let go. 

Instead, JT holds him a little tighter. “Malcolm, breathe with me.” In one strong, sure, steady hand, JT brings both of Malcolm’s up to his own chest and holds them there. His skin is smooth, muscles strong, breathing steady. There isn’t even the slightest hint in anything he does that he’s on edge about any of this. Not like he should be. “You’re safe. No one took anything, alright? It was just a nightmare.” 

Every inch of Malcolm trembles.

He tries to pull away again, but his attempt is feeble at best. JT probably doesn’t even notice. “I should go. I should… I should leave.”

With the care and caution of approaching a wild animal, JT moves exceptionally slow. He strokes Malcolm’s hands. Then his arms. Then he guides him a little closer, touches sure and firm. When Malcolm’s face touches the warm, bare skin of JT’s shoulder he all but collapses into his arms.

“I can’t stay…” 

“I won’t make you. But I don’t want you to leave, either,” JT assures him, holding him together with his touch alone.

Around them, the world settles.

In JT’s arms, Malcolm finds himself doing the same. 

His breath comes easier, his tremors barely noticeable. Tears still streak his face, but even that is forgotten when he shifts just a touch, noses up JT’s neck and takes a nice, long breath. The scent that floods his head leaves him impossibly lighter, makes him feel like he’s wrapped up tight, cradled, warm - cared for. And it’s not just that, it’s his touch. More tender than Malcolm could have ever expected, strong, callused hands stroke down his back and in his hair, and a gentle kiss is laid to his temple. 

“I am,  _ really _ sorry,” Malcolm whispers against JT’s skin, nuzzling even closer. 

“I told you once that if this ever happened, I’d understand. And I do. I get it. Maybe not what exactly is going through your head, but I’ve been there with the nightmares. I know how they can leave you feeling all strung out and alone.”

Something clicks in Malcolm’s head - well, his heart, really. 

“And you’re still here.”

“And I’m still here. As long as you want me to be.”

_ Fuck.  _

Emotions swirl around and crash through Malcolm’s chest. He has to stop himself from tearing up again, unwilling to let JT know just how his words are affecting him. There’s not even a way to name everything going through his mind right now, though he can recognize some of it. Affection. Appreciation. Longing. Tenderness... 

Something bigger than all of that.

Or maybe that it’s just all of those together make something even grander.

Whatever it is, he’s not naming it.

Not now.

Not like this. 

“I should shower,” he says, thoroughly ignoring all of it. That’s really what he’s best at.

“You want some company?”

Malcolm answers before he can think better of it.

“Always.”

He’s showered in here plenty of times - often marveling at the size of the thing compared to the rest of their home. Tally had mentioned it was one of the reasons they got the place. 

But this is the first time either of them has joined him. 

As the water heats up and JT digs in the linen cupboard for a couple of big fluffy towels, Malcolm can’t help but wonder out loud, “I’m surprised I didn’t wake Tally, to be honest.”

JT doesn’t seem surprised. He just sets the towels on the shelf just outside of the shower and shrugs. “That woman could sleep through a four-alarm fire.”

The water is steaming already, and he steps in, holding his hand out for the other man.

“Is she gonna feel left out of this? Should we have woken her?”

“If there is one thing you need to know about that woman, it’s this: if you want your face clawed off, waking her before her alarm is the surest way to make it happen.”

“Metaphorically?”

JT just gives him a flat look, and for the first time since his nightmare woke him up, Malcolm smiles.

The set up they have is, in a word,  _ exquisite.  _ There’s a shower head hanging from the ceiling wide enough that even with JT’s bulk they can both be under the spray, and with a flick of a nob, streams of water come at them from the wall as well. He turns up the heat as high as they both can stand it until Malcolm’s skin starts to turn red and it’s perfect. 

In silence, JT washes Malcolm’s hair, fingers scraping and massaging along his scalp in small circles, working out then back in with a steady rhythm that has Malcolm leaning back against the Alpha’s broad chest, eyes closed and lost to the sensation. He can feel it all the way down to his toes, more soothing than the water cascading all around him. Then he washes his body, gentle strokes of the sudsy cloth, taking care to reach every inch.

After JT sets the cloth aside he runs his hands all over Malcolm’s body, just as careful as before, lingering a little longer here and there, going back over his knees, his hips, his chest. Then he begins to nuzzle into Malcolm’s neck, and holds him around his middle, back to chest.

JT is hard, they both are, and his thick cock is caught firmly in the cleft of Malcolm’s ass where he’s slick and comfortable. But there’s no urgency to this, nothing pressing to move forward or go any further. There’s no need in JT’s touch other than  _ to touch  _ to hold Malcolm and to take care of him head to toe, every inch. Malcolm lays his head back on JT’s shoulder and marvels at the feel of the water running between their bodies, flowing in steady streams, finding the path of least resistance, and feeling like silk dragging across his skin. 

He’s floating, and he tilts his head, bares his neck.

“JT…” 

“Tell me what you want, baby.” JT’s lips drag across the long lines of Malcolm’s neck, kissing a path up then down again. He kisses along his shoulder, sending waves of warmth that seep into his bones far easier than the heat of the water. Then he goes back up, teeth bared, teasing, flirting with marking him.

“I want… I want to be marked by you.” He wants to be  _ claimed.  _ He wants the world to see it, to be able to look in the mirror and know the people he… wants, want him as much as he wants them. 

JT rolls his hips, just a touch, just a tease, and his bare cock catches on Malcolm’s rim, but he shifts and carefully keeps rutting against him instead. “I want you so much, Malcolm. I...  _ fuck. _ ” Without any further words, he sinks his teeth into the faded mark high on Malcolm’s neck, at the pulse point just below his ear, and begins to suck a deep hickey there.

Malcolm doesn’t come, but the sensations that crash into his body and flood his every inch feels almost like he has. Heat spreads from that single point of contact, searing through his veins and branching out along his skin, making him feel everything all at once. JT’s arms around him, teeth sinking in but not breaking the skin, his chest against Malcolm’s back. He can feel the rhythm of his breathing, every drop of water that hits him, and he feels lighter than air. 

And it doesn’t stop. JT keeps working that spot, taking a breath and coming back for more, until Malcolm’s overwhelming pleasure becomes a desperate need.

For more.

For everything.

“Fuck, fuck, JT, I want your knot. I want you to fill me up over and over ‘til I’m swollen with it.” 

“One day,” JT promises, and fuck if Malcolm doesn’t finally believe him. “One day I’m gonna tie you to me and not let you go til you’re nice and fat with my come. And I’m gonna mark you even better than this, mark you so deep it never goes away.”

The shock of Malcolm’s orgasm has him nearly slipping as his knees give out, but JT holds him tight, strokes his cock and ruts against him, both of them spilling with long drawn out groans across the tile wall. 

When Malcolm can think the tiniest bit clearly again he turns in JT’s arms and curls his fingers together behind his neck. His entire body still feels like jelly, like he’ll never be solid again. 

But more importantly, he feels  _ right.  _ Like this is where he’s supposed to be. Right here, right now, in JT’s arms. 

“Did you mean it?”

“Every fucking word,” JT answers without any hesitation.

Their kiss is easy, perfect, like coming home to a place that he’s been searching for his entire life. 

> Mr. Bright,
> 
> Your results of the full STI panel were clear, as the attached report will show for your records. 
> 
> We also performed your full annual blood screening at your request. There were no levels that were alarming, but there was one result we’d like to discuss and do a quick check up on. No need to make an appointment, come by anytime you’re free on Monday. It won’t take long.
> 
> Thank you,
> 
> Dr. Gentry

Malcolm sits in the waiting room and pokes at the mark Tally had left on the other side of his neck, smaller, and not nearly as potent as JT’s had been. She had been thrilled to see JT’s but got cheeky about making one of her own. There had been a lot of laughter that morning, and it’s a good thing she’s the boss in her department or she would have been more worried about how late she wound up being for work. 

The pressure and blossom of light pain his touch creates still makes him smile, even just to himself. 

“Mr. Bright?”

A nurse stands waiting at the door that leads back to the exam rooms with a clipboard in her hand and a genuine-looking smile on her face. 

He’s not  _ too  _ terribly worried about the email and follows her back.

“So do we need to draw another full vial or?” They’d skipped all the other measurements except his temp, given that he’d only been there a week ago.

“Nope!” She pulls out a small, sealed packet and unwraps a finger lancet. “Just a quick little prick of the finger, we’ll run it through the lab, and Dr. Gentry will be with you in less than ten minutes!”

Though he wishes he knew what the hell was going on, Malcolm’s in too good of a mood to worry overly much. 

> **Queen T** : What does this look like?
> 
> **Julius Teaser** : What it is. A love bite. Wait, is that the one on your thigh?
> 
> If you look at it sideways maybe a really fat whale?
> 
> **Julius Teaser** : Or a hand trying to do like, a hand puppet?
> 
> **Queen T** : You’re both wrong. It’s a Dinosaur.

When the door to the exam room opens again, Malcolm is laughing at the picture Tally sent with a poorly drawn outline of a T-rex over the mark that both he and JT had contributed to. 

They share their usual pleasantries since they hadn’t actually seen each other the last time, Dr. Gentry checking on how his wounds from December are fairing and just general inquiries.

But then he stops, the smile fading a bit, and he asks Malcolm a question that Malcolm is  _ not  _ expecting.

“Have you been taking your birth control regularly?”

“Absolutely. Never miss it. Never late. Not since December, anyway.”

“Good. And you went on blockers for the heat that triggered during your hospital stay. And you haven’t had any unexpected heats since then? Nothing unusual or even a possible pre-heat spike?”

“Doctor?”

“Mr. Bright…” Dr. Gentry sighs and removes his glasses. “Any time we do blood work for an omega, especially one as highly and precisely medicated as you are, we include an HCG test in the workup.”

“Okay, and that is?” He feels like he should know what that is. Surely he  _ does  _ know what that is. Malcolm is smart. He can put together context clues. And if his racing pulse is anything to go by, his heart already knows  _ exactly  _ what’s next.

“It’s a pregnancy test, Malcolm.” Dr. Gentry almost sounds apologetic. He is, after all, the man who has been helping Malcolm balance all his medications and desperate desire to never have children since he was 16. Even when Malcolm was living in DC, he’d stayed under his primary care.

“Of fucking course it is.” Malcolm closes his eyes and breathes, counting backward from ten so he doesn’t panic. “And why did you need to test me again?”

“The levels were elevated, but not enough to be conclusive. But, if everything’s going as it should be, those levels double daily. And from your results today, I can say that you’re right around…”

“Four weeks,” Malcolm whispers. 

Four weeks. Four weeks since the condom broke. Four weeks since not only his standard method of birth control failed, but the backup did too.

Four weeks since he brushed it off.

Four weeks since he thought nothing of it. 

Four weeks since everything changed.

Dr. Gentry is still speaking, still talking quietly and with that calm, reassuring bedside voice of his. About next moves. About options. About changes in his medication. 

But Malcolm isn’t listening.

Because Malcolm is a nervous wreck.

Because Malcolm is fucking pregnant.


	7. Assumed Mistakes

Work is rough, complicated, and overtaxing, but nothing that gets thrown her way wipes the smile off Tally’s face the entire day. 

She’d woken up to the sight of Malcolm and JT wandering back into the bedroom with towels wrapped around their hips, steam pouring out of the master bath, and a fresh alpha bite at the top of Malcolm’s neck. They hadn’t bonded, though by the color already blooming on Malcolm’s skin it was a damn close thing. A thrill had gone through her at the sight, at the idea of having something more permanent with him. No one says anything about it, no one mentions long term yet. But if the dopey grin on Malcolm’s face was anything to go by, they were all thinking about it.

After tackling him to the bed in a fit of laughter, she’d left her own claim to him - as much as she could, anyway. There’s something about an Alpha claim on an omega - of any kind - that just seems more potent, more prominent. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t have a little fun with it. 

And Malcolm certainly hadn’t argued.

The fear that had been gripping at her every nerve for the last week is nowhere to be found. Malcolm wants to stick around. He wants to stay with them as much as they want to keep him, and she’s not fooling herself into thinking it’s going to be easy. Hell, even if it was still just her and JT, adding a kid is never easy. But she’s hopeful, and she has faith that they’ll make it through this.

Not even that niggling little voice that sounds like her mother in the back of her head gets to her, telling her it’s too soon. It’s the same words her mother had said when she and JT got engaged. Less than six months after meeting they just sort of knew, and didn’t see any point in waiting. His multiple deployments had put a halt to their plans to hurry up and get hitched, but everything had worked out in the end. After a decade together, she can’t even imagine what life without him would be like.

And now, she’s starting to not want to know what a future without Malcolm would look like either.

It’s dark out when she can finally stop to breathe from her workload of the day, however. She’d only gotten the briefest moment sometime mid-morning to sneak away and text JT and Malcolm for a few minutes before she’d been dragged back under.

Now, she leans back in her office chair 

> **Husband:** You didn’t even stay inside the lines.
> 
> **Husband:** And the teeth don’t match up to any of that.
> 
> You have zero imagination
> 
> **Husband:** What can I say, I like to follow the rules.
> 
> **Husband:** You working late today? You’re usually more talkative.
> 
> Yeah, just finished. You? How about you Malcolm? You’ve been quiet today.
> 
> **Husband:** Closed a case pretty quickly, but since we’ve arrested him I got to get this report in to the DA’s hands for arraignment first thing.
> 
> So dinner on my own. Unless you’re hungry, Mal?
> 
> **Malcolm B:** Sorry, I’ve been busy today. Can’t.

Tally frowns, disappointed, but tucks her phone in her purse and heads to the parking garage, mentally thinking through her options and what she might be able to keep down - and won’t taste too terrible coming back up in the morning.

> Is Malcolm working with you today?
> 
> **Husband:** Nah.
> 
> I know you’re busy so you might not have noticed, but he hasn’t been responding in our group text much.
> 
> **Husband:** Neither have I. Because I’m busy? He does things besides help here, you know.
> 
> I know. I just worry.
> 
> **Husband:** We love you anyway.
> 
> :P
> 
> **Husband:** Want me to bring home some triple brownie?
> 
> GOD YES.

> **Husband:** Not that I want you to worry more after yesterday, but Gil called Malcolm for a case this morning and he told him he couldn’t make it.
> 
> WTH? Do you think he’s okay?
> 
> **Husband:** It’s the first time he’s ever done that. If he doesn’t tell us, we’ll go check on him?
> 
> <3

> JT said you didn’t go in on a call today?
> 
> Malcolm, you okay, baby?
> 
> **Malcolm B:** Not feeling one hundred percent. I’m sure it’ll pass. Otherwise I’m fine. Promise.
> 
> **Husband:** Which means you’re dying of something terrible.
> 
> **Malcolm B:** ???
> 
> **Husband:** You forced yourself onto a case the day you got let out of the hospital from a stab wound.
> 
> **Malcolm B:** It wasn’t that bad.
> 
> **Husband:** Stab.
> 
> **Husband:** Wound.
> 
> Do you need us to bring you anything? 
> 
> My momma’s chicken soup makes even the worst colds feel right as rain.
> 
> **Malcolm B:** Don’t worry about me. If it’s contagious, I really don’t want you to get it.
> 
> Okay, baby. 

Something is wrong.

She doesn’t know what, but she’s determined to get to the bottom of it. 

The worst part is, it’s not like it’s unusual to go a couple days with little conversation between the three of them. But it feels abrupt. Sudden, in the wake of everything they’d talked about and done on Sunday night. 

Plans and ideas are running through her head. Convincing JT comes first, always. It takes an act of congress to make that man worry about anything and even if she gets through to him, he’ll probably only wind up doing anything to indulge her. That’s fine. She can work with that as long as he’s working with her. Because she really really needs to get to the bottom of this. Even if it’s nothing. Even if she’s blowing everything out of proportion, she needs to know and she needs to know as soon as possible.

When JT finally makes it home on Thursday, the look on his face stops her in her tracks.

“What’s wrong?”

JT throws his keys on the console table by the door so hard it sends the small dish they keep them in flying and it shatters on the ground. He curses but Tally snatches up the broom without a word, waiting for him to catch his breath and let go whatever is obviously eating him up from the inside out.

It’s not until they keys are back on the table and the floor carefully cleaned of any leftover shards - JT even made sure to get a wet rag to catch any stragglers - that he finally lets out a long, heavy sigh.

“Malcolm came to work today.”

Tally sits carefully on the edge of the couch, curled up with her feet tucked underneath her. “Okay. So he’s feeling better?”

“I guess. But…” JT joins her on the couch, elbows on his knees and head in his hands, silent for a long time. “I don’t know if it was when he had his nightmare, or after, or, god any time this weekend but I had to have done something wrong.”

“What are you talking about, babe?” She leans over to curl her arms around his shoulder and hold him, worry fluttering in her gut.

“He avoided me all damn day. Never obvious about it. Always having to rush off to do something else for the case. But I could see it in his eyes, or rather, how he was pointedly avoiding looking at me.” JT’s voice is shaking and it never does that. It twists something up tight and miserable in Tally’s gut. “I must have pushed him too fast, or fuck, I never should have marked him like I did while he was in the state he was after his nightmare. I fucked up, babe. And I’m so sorry.” 

“Did he cover up his mark?”

“No.”

Her sigh of relief is so heavy it leaves her skin tingling. But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to worry about, that they don’t need to try and figure out just what the hell is going on. 

“Then, maybe, he’s just feeling a little lost. We’ll figure this out.” Her next words are for her sake as much as his, firm, determined. “We have to.”


End file.
